


Just Pick A Time, The Right One Is Gone Already

by errantwheat



Series: Do I Look Lonely [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, I’m not burying a gay I promise he’ll just need some repairs, I’m warning u now, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mild Gore, Temporary Character Death, This is starting out really fluffy but Honey you got a big storm comin, at some point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-06-30 23:48:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15762252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/errantwheat/pseuds/errantwheat
Summary: So everything would be okay, they’d find a ring, and Gavin would just have to keep a secret from his detective android boyfriend until he found the right time to pop the question. Easy.





	1. Made To Hold You

**Author's Note:**

> Hello I’m gonna try my hand at a multichapter casefic lets go.  
> I’m posting this baby from my phone at 2 AM so forgive me for any typos, I’ll look at it proper in the morning. Ya boy just wants to propose to his boyfriend and this dumb serial killer keeps getting in the way :/

Another dead woman with her guts rearranged was called in on Thursday. Christ.  
This was the third one in five weeks.  
Gavin wanted to throw his fucking phone across the office when he got the call. Instead he said “be right there, Chris,” through his teeth in a tone he hoped sounded civil and tapped the end call button a little too hard. He wished that flip phones had made a comeback so he could snap it shut. And _then_ throw it across the office. Fuck. He just shoved the thing in his jacket pocket and downed the rest of his coffee instead.  
It had been a long five weeks.

Nines was already standing, waiting.  
Gavin could feel his sympathetic gaze as he scrubbed his hands over his face.  
He stood up and stomped out of the office, leading the way to the car and lighting a cigarette the second he was out the door.  
He felt guilty.  
He hadn’t been this worked up in a while, it was too much like old times. Gavin had been trying really fucking hard to be a better person, and Nines had helped. He had helped so much. It was just the case stressing him out.  
It was bugging Nines, too.  
Gavin had learned the android’s tells, probably much slower than Nines had learned his. He was quieter than normal, less snarky, more stiff and mechanical. And clingier at home. Gavin couldn’t tell if that one was for his benefit or not.

He took a long drag and stopped walking. Nines stopped beside him, quiet, watching.

It was late fall, fucking cold out. Gavin smoked more this time of year. He hated cold.  
He reached over and wrapped an arm around Nines’s middle, under his jacket, and buried his face in the Android’s chest.  
Much better.

“As soon as we’re done with this shit,” he said, ”we’re going home for the day. I wanna take the longest shower in history and kiss your brains out and go to sleep at 9 like a grandpa. Okay?”

“Consider a bath. They’re allegedly more relaxing.” Nines replied, resting his chin on top of Gavin’s head.

Gavin tilted his face up and pressed a kiss to Nines’s jaw. Then he turned, still clinging to the android’s side, and they proceeded to the car.

  
The body had been found washed up on the bank under a bridge. She matched the other two. Human. Abdomen shredded to hell, reproductive organs missing, no fingerprints on her body. Clearly dumped here, no sign of a struggle or blood anywhere nearby. That matched the other two murders as well. Somebody was taking these girls off the streets, ripping their guts out, and then leaving them in seemingly random places. Local traffic cams never caught anything, and sometimes they’d straight up bug out. Everything pointed to an android murderer, and an advanced one at that, if it could hack things from range. Nines did that blood thing (the thing Gavin thought was fucking gross) and identified the victim as Amy Wells.  
Reported missing 17 days ago.  
Occupation: retail assistant.  
Age: 29.  
Family: a husband and a young kid.  
That was another thing that tied their victims together that made Gavin’s guts twist- all these women had kids.

Interviewing the family was tomorrow-Gavin’s problem.  
Today-Gavin was going home, because they’d checked out the scene and found nothing new. They’d been busting their asses for five weeks, but there wasn’t enough information to stop another corpse from turning up.

He could tell Nines was pissed about it too. He held himself to such high standards and blamed himself when he didn’t get results immediately. It had taken Gavin a while to figure out that the android had all the expectational anxiety a human prodigy would, he just kept a really tight lid on it. They both needed a fucking break. Gavin didn’t even stop by the precinct first to file a report. He’d do it later if he really couldn’t sleep.

  
Gavin threw himself at Nines the second the apartment door closed. He was so tired and so stressed and so frustrated, wound up so tight- old Gavin would have taken it out on the nearest punchable thing till his hands were bleeding.

New Gavin had an android boyfriend that could hold him against the wall in a grip that was precisely, calculatedly on the edge of bruising and match his fire and ferocity in every kiss.  
That could read him and adjust to him, going slower and softer as the tension in his body started to unravel. With hands that went from pinning him in place with force to pinning him in place with how tenderly they cradled his jaw. As all his furious energy bled out of him Gavin felt too light, too weak. He clung to Nines like he’d fall down or float away if he let go. He’d really been working too fucking hard. But people were dying, what else could he do?

“Better?” Nines asked, kissing the side of his head.

“Some really smart person said something about a bath earlier,” Gavin wrapped his arms limply around the android’s waist, reluctant to let go despite his words.

“What a lovely suggestion, they must have been exceptionally smart indeed,” Nines sounded like he was feeling better too. Good.

Somehow they found the willpower to move themselves to the bathroom. Gavin was tempted to just get in the fucking tub with his clothes still on, but Nines undressed him like he’d read his mind, then undressed himself and joined him, settling in behind him. He wrapped his arms around Gavin and held him close. Extra clingy. Gavin loved it. He guessed they were just both physical people.

He felt way fucking better. Nines made him feel better. He always did.  
For over a year now, Nines had been digging the best of him out of the angry mess. The best of him was still pretty angry, but definitely smarter about it. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve it, but Nines would promise him he was happy too, that he liked it when he felt like Gavin wanted him and needed him. That he liked everything about him, the good stuff and the bad.  
They were, for all intents and purposes, in fucking love.

Gavin had some plans for this weekend concerning that.  
Three months ago, when Tina had suggested it, he didn’t even want to think about it.  
But changing his mind in three months was child’s play for Tina Fucking Chen.  
It didn’t help that he loved Nines _so_ much, and the android kept being so good to him.  
He was going shopping with Tina for a wedding ring.

Just thinking about it still made Gavin scared. But he was excited too. He’d always thought marriage just wasn’t a thing for guys like him. But then, he’d thought falling in love wasn’t a thing for guys like him either. Especially not with an android. Nines made him better, and gave him all the love and attention he could ever want, and Gavin wanted to show what that meant to him; how much Nines meant to him. So he was gonna ask Nines to marry him.

This case they were on had thrown a wrench, a screw driver, and the rest of the fucking toolbox into Gavin’s plan, though.  
It was hard to think about being romantic when he was working late and losing sleep racing against a murderer to catch them before they took somebody else from people that loved them.  
He had planned to go on this shopping trip with Tina weeks ago, but things involving the case kept coming up. This weekend, though, for sure, it was happening.

He’d thought about telling Nines he was going to the gym as his cover, because Nines never went with him. He didn’t need to try to stay in shape, the lucky bastard, and it was a likely alibi, because working out was one of the ways Gavin dealt with stress. But if Nines checked his location, out of curiosity or because he was trying to figure out when Gavin would be home, he would have to explain why he lied. And if he turned his location off, Nines would want to know why, or just hack it.  
Gavin wondered if CyberLife knew that in building the perfect detective they had also built a potential perfect criminal.  
It wasn’t that Nines was a jealous guy, he was just thorough and investigative by nature.

Some Tina Time was just as believable as the gym, anyway. Tina was Gavin’s best friend, she always helped him chill out.  
It still made Gavin feel bad, he didn’t like to leave Nines out of social stuff. He never wanted Nines to feel like he was ashamed to be on the arm of an android- he wasn’t like that anymore.  
He really liked spending time with Nines.  
He was pretty sure, as far as Tina was concerned at least, that Nines knew that.  
So everything would be okay, they’d find a ring, and Gavin would just have to keep a secret from his detective android boyfriend until he found the right time to pop the question. Easy.

They’d been relaxing in the bath for a good while now. Neither of them made a move to get it on, they were both exhausted. Nines just washed Gavin’s hair- god it felt so fucking good, and pressed sweet little kisses to his neck and shoulders.

“Isn’t it amusing,” he said softly, circling his arms around Gavin’s waist again when he was done and resting his chin on his human’s shoulder, “that some genius, some expert in their field, engineered these hands to rip a tank apart, and all I want to do with them is hold you.” Jesus fucking Christ.

“You have a weird sense of humor, you sap,” Gavin said weakly.  
He guessed the image of a greasy nerd in a lab coat tearing their hair out because their killer robot was cuddling some loser in a bathtub was kind of funny. “Get me outta this bath, I have a favorite pillow I wanna go to sleep on right now, his name is Nines.”

Nines smiled at him like sunshine. Definitely feeling better.  
“I thought I was only the cats’ favorite pillow. What a fascinating revelation,” he said, helping Gavin to stand with him. The cats, he’d said, not your cats.  
_Their cats, their bed, their apartment_.  
Gavin was going _wedding ring_ shopping.

  
Gavin was going wedding ring shopping. Jesus. Fuck. What was he supposed to be looking for? How was he supposed to choose? _Fuck_. There were so many options.

“Re-fucking-lax, Gav,” Tina came up beside him and bumped him with her shoulder. “I bet I could hear your eyebrows scrunching all the way across the mall.”  
Tina had a mango smoothie in one hand. Gwen floated up next to her, ever graceful, and stole a sip. Then she held out her left hand for Gavin to see.

“This is the one Tina got me,” she said.  
Both the engagement ring and wedding ring were pretty, not the stereotypical gold band and gold band with big rock.  
They were both silver. The engagement ring was two bands, interwoven, one of them glittering with tiny diamonds, and the wedding ring was just one plain band. Tina had told him the inside was engraved. They fit Gwen. “Just pick something he would like. I’m sure you know better than you think you do.”  
Gwen obviously worked with kids.

Tina did not. Tina worked with Gavin.  
  
“He’ll like anything you pick,” she teased, “he’s obsessed with you. Buy him a ring pop and lets go watch a movie.”

Gavin ignored her and tried to think. Something Nines would like. That ruled out all the big flashy rings. Gavin probably couldn’t afford those anyway. He browsed over the simpler ones until something caught his eye. It was a black band, with a thin strip of solid diamond all the way around. How did they get it like that? It was nice. He tried to picture it on Nines’s hand- fuck he loved his hands so much- and he liked it. He pointed it out to the girls, “What about that one?”

“Ooh, very futuristic. Real Star Trek vibes,” Tina said, then more seriously, because Gwen was probably giving her a Teacher Look, “he’s gonna love it.”  
Nines _was_ gonna love it, Gavin thought, it fit his color scheme. All that black and white. Nines liked his color scheme. So Gavin bought it.

And then they went to the pet store, because he had to come home with something to avoid looking suspicious.  
Gavin could always justify more cat toys. He bought a stuffed cheeseburger for Nugget, because he was a fucking glutton for people food, and a fish that made crinkly noises, because Poppers loved sounds. Gwen tried to convince Tina to buy basically every dog thing in the store. Tina looked sorely tempted to give in. It made Gavin miss Nines.

  
Gavin spent the entire drive home telling himself ‘you didn’t just buy an engagement ring’ over and over in his head.  
It was the only way he was gonna pull off hiding it from his boyfriend, who was literally a lie detector on legs. Really good legs. Gavin loved his legs.  
He ditched the bag at the mall, stashed the little box in one of the door cup holders in the back seat of his car, and kept the ring in his jacket pocket.  
Nope, no engagement ring here.  
Just some cat toys.

Gavin opened the door, keeping Asshat the fat cat from escaping like normal. Good so far.  
Nines was sitting on the couch, a datapad in his hand. He wasn’t using it like a human would- the skin on his hand was gone and things were flicking across the screen at a dizzying pace all on their own. Poppers was on the back of the couch, perched by the android’s head and watching the show.

“Hello Gavin,” Nines greeted without looking up, “did you have a good time?”  
Gavin hoped Nines hadn’t been sitting here all morning killing the good buzz they’d had going since Thursday with casework. That’s what he assumed the android was looking at.  
“Yeah,” he answered, hanging up his coat (with the ring in it- the ring he totally didn’t buy, what ring? Whom? Don’t know her,) and walking over to sit down next to Nines. “Got some toys for the cats.”  
Nines looked away from the datapad and the rapid stream of information ceased.  
He liked playing with the cats.  
Gavin pulled the goods out of the bag and flung the crinkly fish down on the floor. Poppers tackled it in an instant. Nines smiled.  
Bingo. Distraction successful.

The rest of the day passed in domestic bliss. Gavin was tempted to try to make some progress on their case, he could tell Nines was too. But they didn’t. It could wait until Monday.  
And Gavin had a proposal to plan.


	2. It’s Just Temporary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘You don’t- I’m, I’m all yours okay? Will you- I wanna-“ RK900 waited patiently for his human to find the words he was grasping for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, those tags? The scary ones? That’s in this chapter :( sorry for all the case exposition

RK900 put a lot of consideration, as he did with most things, into when he woke Gavin up in the morning.

There were a lot of variables to consider.

RK900 liked his sleeping face, and wanted to watch it as long as he could. That was one variable, placed selfishly high in the order of priority.  
Gavin preferred to ‘hit snooze,’ so to speak, which in this context meant burying his head in RK900’s chest and pretending he didn’t have a job or obligations. Endearing. RK900 liked for this to last as long as possible, as well.

He did not want to be late, so he couldn’t delay for too long, but sometimes RK900 would wait a few minutes past the time his calculations insisted would be ideal.  
‘Wake Gavin at 8:15 to be on time to work,’ the prompt would say, and RK900 would watch his internal clock reach 8:15 and then tick by, unmoved.  
Gavin could shower a little faster that morning, RK900 was comfortable and content.

It was one of those mornings.  
The time was nearing 8:20. The very instant it became 8:21, RK900 would wake Gavin up, then Gavin would complain and hide in his arms until 8:26. Ideally, they would leave the apartment at 8:45 to arrive at the precinct at 9 AM.  
It took RK900 mere fractions of a second to calculate these things- his processing power was the best CyberLife had to offer- but in those milliseconds Gavin’s phone rang. Annoying. His human still had 27 seconds to sleep. RK900 could have remotely taken the call for him, but Gavin was already roused and reaching for the phone. The ‘wake Gavin’ prompt RK900 had been smugly ignoring rearranged itself into ‘mission failed’ and disappeared. Fuck off. He hadn’t failed a thing.

“Sup?” Gavin answered the phone. RK900 just adored his early morning eloquence. Or lack thereof.  
Even if RK900’s audio processors couldn’t clearly pick up the voice on the other line, he would have known the call concerned their current case from the way Gavin’s body reacted.  
RK900 had the very strong impulse to throw his phone through the wall and pull him close and hide him from everything.  
To act on this would be absurd, obviously, they couldn’t realistically abandon their mutual responsibilities. But RK900 was frankly fucking sick of things causing stress to his human at such a consistent rate.  
They had to close this case.  
Perhaps the corpse that was just found would provide the means to that end.

Gavin sat up, swinging his legs off the side of the bed, and raked a hand through his hair. His every move was erratic, tense. RK900 wanted to just fix it. But humans weren’t that simple. Gavin would go get dressed, and take a shower and drink his coffee and do his best to calm down, and if he needed help he would ask for it.  
But before he did any of that, he surprised RK900 by turning around, leaning over and kissing him. He really did love to kiss Gavin. It seemed to comfort the human, and for that RK900 was very glad. Sometimes humans _were_ that simple.

  
Last week the body had been human. She was defaced just like the others. But there were a few things that stood out about her.  
One being that she didn’t technically exist.  
When RK900 tested her blood, his database simply returned a name: _Ada_.  
Clearly her file had been tampered with. Highly unusual and very concerning. This wouldn’t be such an obstacle if RK900 could just check her face against their missing persons profiles, but that was another thing that made Ada unique among the victims so far- her face was ruined beyond recognition.  
Ada was also in an interesting location when she was found. The other bodies had turned up in standard places- under bridges, in abandoned buildings, alleyways. Little care was put in to their disposal.

The foundation for a new building was being laid, however rain had postponed the concrete pouring.  
Rain had also disturbed the soil and revealed Ada’s corpse. Had construction proceeded as planned, RK900 was certain Ada would have never been found. They got lucky.

Their killer didn’t care if its victims were found. Except for Ada. RK900 was certain she was important. If they could find out who she was, it might bring them closer to ending this gruesome case. Forensics had to construct an entirely new profile for her. Blood work, dental records, a projection of her face based on the structure of her bones. Then RK900 could check it against preexisting records. It would take time.

Neither RK900 or Gavin liked to wait.  
Ada’s body was notably malnourished. This might have indicated that she was held captive by the killer, but the severity of her condition was beyond the capacity of just the 8 weeks that the killer had been active. Additionally, her levels of vitamin D were too high to have been locked away somewhere discreet.  
Everything instead pointed to homelessness.  
RK900 and Gavin therefore occupied themselves over the next few days with interviewing the local homeless community. It was difficult, and tedious, and they had no face to show. They could only ask for Ada.

But somebody talked. Lucky again. And tipped them a location that Ada allegedly frequented, an abandoned house in the outer city. It was a shot in the dark, but they had nothing better to do.

Until this new corpse was found, conflicting with their plans to investigate the location.  
Connor and Lieutenant Anderson had graciously agreed to help them multitask, checking on the house while RK900 and Gavin attended to the new body, so now here they were.

She was an android. This was new.  
She was found arranged nicely on a park bench. This was also new. The only thing that had indicated she was related to their case was the damage done to her body. Biocomponents were stained red, and stitched together gruesomely with a human uterus.  
This further confirmed RK900’s theory about the killer’s motive. Mangling women and ripping out their reproductive organs? Unoriginal. But clearly this android was coveting what it could not have. The organs had been removed precisely, surgically from the human women. The rest of the damage to their bodies had been simple mutilation. Frustration. Envy. This android appeared to be more like a failed experiment. Treated gently. It wasn’t her fault.  
Fucking deviants.

RK900 relayed this information to Gavin.

“Jesus Christ,” he sounded exhausted, “This is insane. You think I’ll still be alive when they make a tv show about us? Or a video game? I could use the fuckin’ royalty checks.”  
Not too exhausted to joke. Good.  
“You got her uh, model and stuff? She work anywhere? Might be able to ask around, see if anybody saw anything.”

“Yes,” RK900 replied, “MS300 model, designation Delilah, employed at the Eden Club.” The Eden Club had allegedly undergone a reform after the revolution. Now it was just a regular strip club, no prostitution allowed.  
RK900 was sure it was bullshit, but that was a case for another day.

“See? We’re even going back to the sex club. Perfect for TV.”

  
The Eden Club’s bright lights and displays were less overwhelming during the day. Sexiest androids in town.  
“I need that for our front door,” Gavin joked. Crass. But cute, in a Gavin-ish way. RK900 would be sure to tease him with that later. And he’d said our front door. Very endearing.

The manager offered no help, but said they could talk to the employees. RK900 thought he seemed simply relieved they weren’t investigating his business specifically.

There were four android workers present at the moment. The club wasn’t to open it’s doors until evening fell. These androids lived on the premises. Three women and one man. They were distraught to hear about Delilah. RK900 knew Gavin hated this part, interviewing the acquaintances of the deceased.

Deceased. What a difference a year made.  
RK900 would not have internally referred to a deactivated android as ‘deceased’ a year ago. Gavin would not have either, for that matter. But here he was, awkwardly consoling four androids over the loss of their friend.  
One of the things RK900 loved about Gavin was how deeply he cared. He cared about his job, and the people he was supposed to be protecting. He cared about the victims. He internalized all of that compassion and the pain that came with it, until it turned into anger under its own pressure, and then he used to that anger to fuel his often unhealthy work ethic.  
Such _human_ behavior.  
RK900 felt that intense desire to protect him again. Wrap him in a blanket and hold him. Detective Reed is currently unavailable, please leave a message after the tone. Beep.

Instead, he tried to question the androids. The sooner the case was closed, the sooner Gavin could chill the fuck out, as it were.

“Can you tell us when you last saw Delilah?” He asked, “was she behaving strangely, going somewhere unusual, or with anybody unfamiliar? Any details you provide could help us apprehend her murderer.”

The android that answered him was peculiar looking. Her face didn’t match any mass produced model he had ever seen. He could not ascertain her serial number from a scan. A personalized model, then. Probably fled from her undeniably wealthy owner after the revolution. One of her eyes was discolored, damaged. She called herself Myr.

“There was- a man,” she began, still shaken. “A human. He wanted a private show. They were together all night, she said she was going home with him after hours, and then I never saw her again.”  
A human? That did not add up. There had been no evidence of human involvement thus far. Was she lying? Stress levels normal for the grief she was exhibiting. No obvious tells. A human accomplice was not impossible, but seemed unlikely. Why would she lie? Was she protecting someone? One of these androids? Herself?-

Suddenly she pitched forward.  
RK900 moved to intercept her, protect Gavin-  
But she only wrapped her arms around the human and sobbed.  
Hm.  
Deviants.

“Oh, god, poor Lilah,” she wept, “I can’t believe she’s gone, I should have stopped her, I- I-“ Gavin looked terribly flustered.  
RK900 found that adorable.

“We’re, uh, sorry for your loss, miss. You two must have been close. You’ve been a big help, though, we’ll bag that guy, no problem.” Gavin awkwardly patted her shoulder.

That seemed to comfort Myr.  
“Thank you... really... you’re so _brave_ , you know?” She didn’t let go of Gavin. She remained clinging to him, looking up at him all teary eyed.  
She flattened one hand against his shoulder, the skin vanishing.  
“I wish I could _show_ you how much it means to me.”  
RK900 did not find that adorable.

“If none of you have anything else to add, we should proceed with the investigation. Detective.” He glanced over the androids. None of them spoke up. Good. RK900’s patience for the social aspect of their job had reached an abrupt end.  
Gavin thanked the androids again, gingerly escaping Myr’s clutches, and followed RK900 to the offices. They would simply need to review the business’s records and acquire the suspect’s personal information. RK900 placed his hand on the manager’s console and initiated the scan.

“What- what’s it doing?”  
Ah. He had neglected to ask permission, as would have been polite. Truly, he was out of patience.

“ _He’s_ solving a murder case, pal, cool your shit.”  
...Patience capacity restored.  
RK900 pleasantly resumed his thoughts about how much he loved Gavin as a background task while he found the records he needed.  
Zachary Miller. 38. Currently employed at CyberLife. Another establishment that had undergone some type of reform post revolution. He had purchased time with Delilah. Myr’s story checked out. A human accomplice it was then. Or perhaps they were intercepted before they reached Miller’s home. This was progress either way. They would have to reach out to Mr. Miller after they met Connor and Lieutenant Anderson at Ada’s house.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” RK900 said, and then he turned and left. He was very eager to get away from this place.

Gavin caught up to him.  
“Nines, hey-“  
RK900 stopped abruptly and Gavin bumped in to him.   
“Fuck- hey, are you okay?”  
Background task ‘think about loving Gavin Reed’ resumed.

“Yes,” RK900 replied, “I am fine.”  
He would need to elaborate. Gavin was not very good at talking about things. RK900 was not either, despite what the human might believe. But Gavin had been trying to improve, and RK900 had to try as well, to be an example, and to reciprocate the effort. To show Gavin that he was secure and respected and loved. _So_ loved.  
“It was simply...quite an ordeal.”

Gavin ran a hand through his hair and nodded. “You’re telling me, you didn’t have an android crying all over you.”

“It was quite unsightly.” RK900 agreed.

“Aw come on, she was upset, she just- oh,” RK900 waited patiently for Gavin to proceed. He hoped it was some revelation about the case. “Oh my fucking god are you- were you _jealous_?”

Jealous? Preposterous. Impossible.  
Exactly correct.  
“No.”

“Oh, yeah, whatever you say, big guy. God, this is so good, I’m putting this one on the calendars- hey, look at me.” RK900 obliged him. He did love to look at Gavin’s face. He was smiling. RK900 loved Gavin’s smile.

Gavin stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. They’d been outside for a few minutes now. RK900 knew his human disliked the cold.

“Listen, you don’t gotta- look, if I had a dime for every time I wanted to deck somebody for checking you out I could retire right now. You don’t- I’m, I’m all yours okay? Will you- I wanna-“ RK900 waited patiently for his human to find the words he was grasping for. He often struggled when it came to expressing his feelings. It made RK900 happy that he tried, though. So happy. He was particularly stressed this time, for some reason.  
“I wanna suck your dick so bad right now, you’re so fucking cute.”

Oh, Gavin. A poet, truly.  
RK900 simply could not resist leaning forward and kissing his forehead.  
“Perhaps after our work for the day is concluded. We have a house to investigate, and a suspect to pursue, and forensic results to check on, and reports to file.”

“Oh yeah, keep talking about reports, babe, it’s so fucking hot.”

RK900 linked his arm with Gavin’s and continued to the car. He felt better.

  
“She seems to have had very little in the way of possessions,” Connor was explaining as they walked through the house. It was quite decrepit. Creaking wood floors, peeling wallpaper, water damage, rodent droppings. Delightful.  
“One area of interest is the basement. She appears to have been involved in red ice production.” Naughty, Ada.

“We should compile a list of the blood profiles from any residual thirium. It may belong to potential victims. Or the killer.” RK900 suggested.

“My thoughts precisely.” Connor nodded, opening the door to the basement. RK900 remained behind, he wanted to look over the house personally. He meant no discredit to Connor and the lieutenant’s capabilities, he simply preferred to do things for himself.  
Lieutenant Anderson was upstairs, and Gavin was in the living room. RK900 joined his partner.

“This place is fucked,” Gavin said. “I didn’t even know so much paper still existed.”  
There was a plethora of books, heavily damaged, in tatters and in piles. Newspaper, loose script, scrawled notes, all covered in a layer of dust.  
Everything was dusty, RK900 noted, performing a scan. It was obvious Ada spent little time in the upper floors of the house.

RK900 was just about to abandon this room and join his predecessor in the basement when something caught his eye.  
The most minuscule detail.  
A discoloration at the edge of the broken mirror hanging over the fireplace. Fresh plaster over the faded wallpaper. RK900 reached out and removed the mirror from the wall.

Concealed behind it was a safe. It appeared to have been manually implanted in the wall.

“Oh, fuckin’ bingo.” Gavin stepped up beside him, placing a hand on his waist. It felt like praise. RK900 liked that very much. “Can you get it open?”

It was an old safe. The lock was not electronic, nothing for him to interface with and hack.  
He was an RK900, of course he could get it open.

9 13 21 6

The mechanism clicked particularly with each number. He wondered absently if they were significant in any way.

And then RK900 couldn’t afford to wonder much of anything, anymore, because a bullet passed through his head, and he had very little time to deal with it.

He didn’t stumble or fall immediately. It was as if nothing had happened, for just a moment. The safe had been trapped, he had detected it, but not quickly enough.

RK900’s vision was red and distorted, cluttered with error reports.

C̝͎̰̳̠̭̦͘9̯̗͍͇̥̕̕͜ͅń̟̭͔̠̺͔̭̥t͖̠͙̩͍̻R̲͓͚̻̀͜A̭̟̯l̵̬̝̘ͅ ̯̠̣̪͎̞̭P̷͚̘̥͕͓͔̳̣̺͠ŕ͍̻͞ò̗̪c͏̙͙3̧͉̮͙̖̥͍͉̱̕s͚̹͉̗̗̯͔s̵̸̛̮o̶͓̱͉͈̲̙̭̱͕͘r̷͚̮̭̥̜͢ ̧͙͖͟ͅC̨̧̗̝̖R͙̪͕̠̮̯͍͡i͓͉͎͖̤̖̮̕͞t̸͖̮̬̫͍͈i̡͙̱͇̗̪c͓̣͖Á̯̗͜l̵̟̻̝̞̖̯̫̭͝l͏͔̟̹̥̬͎̞̣̗y̻̘ ̤͚̥͉̘ͅD̠̗̱̜̬͍͇̯͘͡a͙͔͙̮͙̩͘m̧̳͟ą̛̭̥̞̝̪̲̞̭͠ǵ̱͍̀e̵͚͙̪ḑ̬͇̦̘̗̦ͅ9̶̤̹͓̮͕̳̻̗͝͞  
̡̨̯̠̭̺͕͇̬̻̼͡  
̨̨̠̙̮̖̱̠̝̠͎͞T̷̛͉̗͙̬͚̫̥̻̥͘h̗̬̥͘͜í̗̝̱͔͙̤ͅr̸̪͈̘̺̻̯͕ͅi͏̗̦̗͕͚̥̣̝͘͜u̢̩͚͚͘m̧̛̟̰͍̲̤͉͈ ̵̷̘̣̳L͕͉o̡͍͖̬̻͉S̳̹S̵͕̰̀ ̳̫͙͙-̵͕̹͚̯͟ ̡̬̭̺̖̝̗C̡̰̫̜̝͇͡ŗ̩͙̱i̭͇͙̰̯̮̭͝t̜̳̜͜i͖̼̯̮̝c̜͍̥͎͇͘͢ą̫̝̥̫̲̪̻͖Ḷ̳̺̟̹  
̷̠̪͟  
̡̫̝̭̜̤̘̜0͚̬̺͡0͉͖̺̠́͘:̷̺̘̩̹̫̝̞͝0̹̖̝̜̦0҉̴̞͔͙͎͓͙̝͍:̹͉͉͚̺̖͕̗͠1̹͎̥̥̹̜͉͘͠ͅ5̖̬̹̤̭̭ ̴̡̰͟T͇̼͉̪̣̕o͟҉̜̩ ̤̻̟̟̖̺Ṣ̶͍̤͎͝ḫ̵̹̺̪̯͘ͅu̼̤̯͢ͅt̪͙̞̝͚͓̭̘͘ͅd͚̰͈͇̪͟o̴̢͚̰͎͇͚͙̫͍̖w̷͍̟̲n̖̦͉̖̳̣̯͕̬5̧̭͖͎̪͎͕  
̵̴̙͎͍̻̼̥̰  
̧̨̮͔͟Ç̟͝o̵̯̱͙̹̘̺͡M̶̡̝̘M̧̰̪̪̗̯̘͘3̼̠͕ͅn̸̴̫̭̲̼̟̠̭C̶̭͚͔̬̫̗͘͝e̶̤̖̗͚̪͍̦ ̫́̕͝Ú̢͎͉̘̲̣̺͡p̢̬ĺ̴̡͈̭̭͕̱ò̸͇̣̝ạ͖D̸͍͍͙̪̙͕̕͜?̖̟͉̀ ҉̦̱̤͘ͅ  
̬̬͝  
̩̺C̟̪̲̥̜̀ó̧̮̰̜̪̰n̠͔̥͇̦̣̲n̻̫3̝̯̪͕̗̳̱̗̺́c҉̛̗̘͚t̜͔͖į̷̰̞̫̦̬͓͇̝ͅo̰̯̣͟n̨̛̗͉̝̤̗̟̥ ̖͕͇͘͢Ę̢̭̭̬̕r͏̧̹͇̮̮̰̻ṛ̸͎̩͓o͕̮͟͜R̦͉̣͉̠͢͠9̴͓͎͎̻̬͉̖̻̻

  
Gavin’s voice sounded so far away, his hands felt even farther.  
He tried to support RK900’s weight, but they simply both toppled over.

RK900 shut off his sensory processors, they were barely functioning anyway, and wasting energy. He needed time.  
And selfishly, he didn’t want to hear the things Gavin was saying, or see the way his face looked.  
Selfishly, he didn’t want to die.

The RK900 series was designed to run longer after sustaining critical damage, even to something as vital as the central processor, to reduce the amount of data corruption when its memory was uploaded to CyberLife.

There was no cloud to send his memory to, not anymore.

He needed time. There had to be something. This couldn’t just happen.

RK900 could not see or feel the hand that grasped his, but he could feel the link established. Connor. _Connor_.

0̵̦͠0̸̷͉̦͙̳̜̟̼ͅ:̡͕̜0̶̶̧̭͉̙͈̤0̛͖͍͈̬̕͞:̵̲̼͕̠1̠͚̝̖0̯͈̭̟̕͠ͅ ̦͕̗͕̭̥͘͠T̟̥̬̰̫̤͟͝͠o̢̠̞̜̠̼̕ ̻̹̜̼̫͟ͅS̷̴̼̼͍͈̘͉̩͢h̵̪̯̬̟ụ̧͉̰t̳̪̕d̢̥̗̱̺͈̯̯͜ͅo̹̹̖̘͙͎̣̘͜͡w̨̨̫̮̕n̺͚̭͔͙̪9͓̰͉̞͉͈̯̖̀͟͠ͅ ̥̘͍̥͠ͅ  
̨̜̖̺͎͍̟͎͘͟  
̨̹͙͚͚̲͖̝̬͟8͕̫̖̖̯͉U҉̛̩̟͓p͔̲͘l̝͔̝̲̤̬̲̺ớ̛͉̟̳̬̟ͅA̶͇̩̮͎̕ḑ̷̷̙̲̜̬ ̯͕̞͉̦Í̷̜̮̲̦̟̱͡ṋ̮̱̟̪͡i̸̟̱͔̪͔͟t҉͈͖i͙͠a͕̪̣͍̳͡t̨͓̪3̷̡̙͉̬̞̙̕d҉̵͎͎̫̻̲̩̲.̸̴̬ ̷̧̜͔̤̣̟̝̞̻ͅ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry  
> Thank you for reading!


	3. A Second Is Simply Too Long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wished Nines was there. Nines was so much better at the talking part. Nines would hate this guy too. They’d joke about it on the way back to the car, and Gavin would wanna kiss his brains out, and fucking marry him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part is mostly case stuff, with some feelings and some jokes  
> Sorry it’s short 

_Temporary_.  
It was only temporary, Connor had assured him. His blinking red LED hadn’t made it feel like the truth.

Gavin was fine. He was great.  
He was at the precinct at 4 in the morning and it super wasn’t because he couldn’t fucking close his eyes without seeing blue. He just _really_ wanted this case closed.

It felt fucked to leave Nines there. Gavin didn’t want to let go of him. So he didn’t, until the paramedics showed up.

He could just be sleeping, if it weren’t for the bloody hole in his head and the blank LED. Gavin had never noticed the soft electric hum under the android’s skin until it wasn’t there anymore.

The adrenaline made Gavin’s fingers numb, made him cling too tight, it was literally hard to let go of him.

It felt fucked to walk back to his car alone and go back to their apartment alone, _oh_ christ, he was going to have to sleep in their bed _alone_. He wanted to turn around and climb into the ambulance just for the ride, just to hold him a little longer.

It was temporary.  
Nines would be back in no time.  
And then Gavin was going to kick his ass, and then kiss him, and then marry him. Probably also bone him, at some point in there.  
He should have asked outside the strip club like they were in fucking Vegas, but he lost his nerve. He thought he had time. He didn’t know this was coming.

Nines did something, before he- before he shut off. Connor had rushed over and taken his hand, and then cringed like it hurt but he didn’t let go.  
They just had to fix him.

Anderson had told Gavin to go home. He couldn’t look at the old man’s face, cause if he did he’d see pity there, and then he’d wanna break it the fuck off with his fist. So he kept his eyes on the ground and did what he was told.

 _Temporary, temporary temporary_ ,  
The word didn’t mean anything anymore, it just piled up in his head, adding to the pressure that was already there. Temporary was too long.    
He tried to be good. Nines would want him to go home, and take a shower, and eat something, and pet his cats and go to sleep. He could practically hear the android’s voice, the teasing and affection in his tone.  
Gavin really tried.  
He did the shower, scrubbed the blood off his skin as thoroughly as he could, and he did clock out on the couch when the adrenaline and the shock finally ran their course and left him feeling like he was folded out of paper and cast in lead all at once.  
When he woke up again it was dark. Half way through his fourth cigarette, still stubbornly on the couch and _not_ in bed, he couldn’t bear to sit around anymore. So he fed the cats and left.

And now he was here.  
Stuff was starting to come together. (Nines would be happy.)  
The safe had contained some fake IDs and passports, cash, some personal letters, wedding rings and a picture. There were three people in the picture- a woman, a pretentious looking man with long hair, and a girl sitting in a chair between them. Her face was scratched out.  
Connor ID’d the guy as Gerard Adelaide (Nines could have done that.) Rich guy, old blood, formerly involved in CyberLife management, recently retired. Go figure. The woman was his wife, Loretta Adelaide.

The night shift was packing up and the day shift was starting to come in. Fowler first, of course. He was a driven man, dedicated to his job. Nines liked him.

_“The captain is simply looking out for you, detective.”_

_“He’s a dick.”_

_“Have you suddenly developed some distaste for them? You seemed to like mine just fine when you-”_

_“Holy shit, shut up.”_

_“I like them too, you know. Perhaps I should show you how much-”_

_“_ God _, I sleep with an android_ one _time-“_

“Reed.” The old man’s voice lacked its usual bite. He just sounded tired. Gavin really couldn’t be bothered to feel sympathetic.  
He could tell Fowler wanted to say more, probably wanted to order him to go the fuck home, to hand the case over to Hank and Connor before he drove himself and everyone else around him batshit.  
But instead he just sighed and continued to his office. He was an old cop, he probably thought he understood what Gavin was going through. Gavin didn’t have it in him to care.

More people came in. Gavin ignored them all.  
Even Tina. He felt guilty for that one.  
He’d dodged her calls and left her on read all day yesterday. She hadn’t directly approached him yet. She was giving him his space, but he knew she wanted to talk about it. Gavin really didn’t want to talk about it.

Everyone else avoided him. They knew a minefield when they saw one. Just like old times.  
The first person to step into the danger zone was Connor. He put his hand on Gavin’s console and transferred some files.

“This is the profile constructed for Ada. It matches Loretta Adelaide, as we suspected.” Gavin used to think he and Nines looked and sounded and acted exactly alike. He had been wrong. It would have hurt to hear Connor talk right now if he wasn’t.  
“Some of the thirium in her basement was unprocessed. Much of it belonged to an android I cannot identify, however. The serial number does not exist in any database.”

Gavin kept his eyes on the screen, reading through the information. He jumped a little when Connor reached over and touched his shoulder. Too many cups of coffee. Too much stress. It made him one big raw nerve.  
His gut reaction was to slap the hand away, to yell, provoke, scratch that itch for violence, but he didn’t. Nines wouldn’t want him to. Nines liked Connor. Gavin liked Connor too, now. It wouldn’t be right. 

“Hank and I will follow up on the Miller lead. Then we’ll be consulting with Mr. Kamski about a replacement central processor. The RK series is quite unique, we can’t just substitute a PL600 brain and expect it to run smoothly,” Connor smiled fondly, “could you picture his face if it took him more than a picosecond to think of a word?”  
Oh, he was good. Negotiator model indeed. Made it sound like Nines was just in the hospital or something. He kind of was, Gavin guessed. Checked in to St. Connor’s, prescribed indefinite bedrest.  
It made Gavin feel just a little bit better.  
He didn’t love one particular detail about all this though.

“Why’s it gotta be Kamski? Isn’t one of your pals running CyberLife now?”  
Gavin didn’t miss the way Connor searched his face. He knew, of course he knew, Connor knew everything. (Like Nines.)

“No processors for an RK900 model currently exist, and CyberLife has either hidden or destroyed the schematics. I’m afraid he may be the only one that can produce a copy.” Gavin hoped he could. He didn’t want to think of what would happen if he couldn’t.

His chest felt a little lighter. He felt a little more tired.  
“Thanks, Connor,” Gavin said, and he really meant it.  
Thanks for kicking his ass, thanks for bringing Nines here, thanks for saving the love of his life.  
It hadn’t looked pleasant for him. His LED had been red from the second he laid eyes on Nines to the last time Gavin saw him that day.  
“It’s not- did it hurt you? When he-?” Gavin wasn’t sure what to call it.

Connor shook his head. “I’m okay. It was simply a rather sizable data package to receive so quickly.”

Gavin would have made a joke about his boyfriend’s sizable data package if he were sitting there at his desk, but he wasn’t.

“Is he...in there? With you? Like...?”

Connor looked thoughtfully to the side. “No, I’m afraid not. I have his memories and personality matrix and protocols, but he isn’t capable of maintaining a consciousness in this state.”

Gavin didn’t dislike that answer. Android body sharing was way too kinky sci-fi a concept for him on this little sleep.

He stood up and tugged his jacket on. Time to go visit some rich fuck. Connor gave him a soft smile and a nod goodbye. 

  
Gerard Adelaide was just as bad as he looked in the pictures. Tall guy, dressed in clothes that looked too casual to cost as much as they probably did, lounging on a gilded couch and sipping a glass of red at 1 in the afternoon.  
An android answered the door, and Gavin really didn’t trust that. Lots of rich people were reluctant to give up their androids after the revolution, it was still a shady situation.

Gerard took a long drink from his glass, staring directly at Gavin’s eyes the entire time. Then he let his hair down from the low ponytail it had been in, leaned back, crossed his legs and smiled. Clearly accustomed to people waiting on him. 

“To what do I owe the privilege, detective-?” What a way to say hello. Creepy. Gross.

“Reed. Your wife was found dead a week ago. Know anything about it?” Gavin wanted out of this tacky Victorian nightmare of a sitting room as soon as possible.

“Oh? How sad,” Gerard did not sound sad, “she hasn’t been my wife for years, however.”  
He took another sip of his drink. Still staring. Still creepy.

“Care to explain?” No divorce was ever filed, according to the DPD’s sources. Gavin really wasn’t digging the tedious word games.

“Oh, gladly detective.” Really, really not digging them. He wished Nines was there. Nines was so much better at the talking part. Nines would hate this guy too. They’d joke about it on the way back to the car, and Gavin would wanna kiss his brains out, and _fucking marry him_.

Gerard ran a hand through his hair, uncrossed his legs, recrossed his legs. Eye contact.  
“Loretta was quite ill, you see. I’m afraid one night in the throes of her madness she fled, and I never saw her again.” A sarcastic boo-hoo at the end was implied. And ‘throes of her madness’? Was this fucking Wuthering Heights?

“You didn’t report her missing?” Gavin wasn’t surprised. Rich folks didn’t like their scandals getting around.

“I thought it best things ended quietly. I only regret the loss of my dear Murine.” Yep, keeping the story out of peoples’ mouths.  
Murine, though, that name hadn’t been in any of the files.

“Murine? Who was that?” A normal fucking person would have just explained to begin with.

“Oh, my android. She was something special. A gift from Elijah.” Of course.  
Gavin remembered the unidentifiable android blood in the basement. This could be their killer.

“What was her serial number?” Please, for the love of god, be a little bit useful.

“She was an RK600 if I recall correctly. State of the art, at one point, truly magnificent.” Gerard was giving Gavin a look that he really didn’t like. He wished Nines was there _again_ and it made his chest hurt.  
Show this bastard what state of the art looked like.

“Have you seen her since then? Do you have any pictures of her?”

Gerard tapped his chin thoughtfully, then tucked some hair behind his ear. “Sadly no, on both accounts.” He uncrossed his legs again, sitting up.  
“Is that all, detective? I do so wish to be of use to you,” one of his knees turned out just a little, “but I’m afraid thats all I know about my poor Loretta.”  
The staring hadn’t gotten less creepy.

Out of this hell. Gavin wanted out of this hell.

“Nope, that’s it. Thanks a bunch,” he stood up, trying not to be too hasty- like hell this prick was gonna make him run.

“Leaving, then? Oh, what sort of host am I? I’d forgotten to offer you a drink. Well, I’m having a late lunch, if you’d like to stay and partake.” Jesus. _Fuck_ no.  
Gavin missed Nines _so_ bad.

“Not hungry, have a nice day, I’ll see myself out.” And he got the _fuck_ out.

No Nines walking beside him to commiserate with. No warm body to hold him casually and protect him from the cold, no gentle hands to smooth his ruffled feathers. So Gavin lit a cigarette instead.

RK600. It seemed like only one man would know anything about an RK600. Fuck.

Time to pay brother dear an overdue visit. 


	4. Home Is Where The Crazy Robots Aren’t

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby, if you think I’m doing anything but hold on to you from now till I fucking die-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a brief mention of needles in this chapter, skip the paragraph after the description of Myr’s room if that squicks you
> 
> :) I posted the last chapter and then started this one literally immediately and wrote till 3 AM have fun

Gavin wondered if Elijah could even name the fucking shape his house was in. He probably invented a new shape, cause that’s what he did. Invent stuff. He hoped Eli hadn’t paid somebody to design and decorate the place, cause it looked dumb. Literally the height of pretension. Did he have like, a basement that he _actually_ lived in? Cause every room Gavin saw was spotlessly clean and completely devoid of actual human personality.

Was he bitter that his step-brother was a billionaire genius? A little bit.  
Elijah was shiny and new and brilliant and a promise of a dazzling future while Gavin was a constant reminder of past mistakes.  
Straight As vs. straight Bs.  
Obedient kiss-ass and terrific fucking kid stickers vs. daddy issues and notes home.  
The only thing Gavin ever had on Elijah was that he was stronger, physically. So he focused on that.  
Classic story.

They didn’t talk anymore. They didn’t really have any big falling out, Elijah just got busy with his career and Gavin got busy with his. Gavin couldn’t tell if the lack of contact had harmed or helped their relationship. He was bitter, but not as much as he used to be. It might have been time, or distance that changed it. It might have been Nines.  
It was probably Nines.  
He missed Nines _so bad_.

“Gavin.” Sweatpants, a fucking Mass Effect t-shirt, big glasses, a bowl of cereal at 3 pm. Fame hadn’t really changed Eli that much. He just had an edgier haircut now. “Who’s dead?”

“Like six people so far, actually.” He counted Nines.

“You surely don’t have six friends. This is about a case, then?”

“Yes, asshole.” Gavin was getting a headache. “You made Gerard Adelaide an RK600. It might be a serial killer. I need to know everything about it.”

Elijah considered that over his cereal, chewing slowly.  
To his credit, Eli wasn’t nearly as creepy as Adelaide. Not all rich pricks were alike.

“Come with me,” he finally said, waving his spoon at Gavin in a beckoning gesture.

Gavin followed Elijah down a hallway to an elevator. Oh goodie, they were going to the nerd cave. Maybe his basement theory was right.

“How are you, Gavin?” Elijah asked, a beat after he pressed the down button. “You look bad.”  
Elevator talk. Gavin’s favorite.

“I’m fucking fine. You look like shit too, seen the sun lately?”

“Not much today, I’ve been busy fixing- your partner, isn’t he?”

Gavin wasn’t sure what definition of partner Elijah meant. He was pretty sure it was the work kind, but Elijah had a way of knowing things he shouldn’t.

“Yeah,” Gavin replied simply. He didn’t want to give anything away. He didn’t want Elijah to know. He didn’t want shit to get personal.

“I’m surprised he lasted this long, stuck with you. You must be relieved to be rid of him, for the moment.” Bait. Absolutely bait. Gavin ate it up like a moron.

“ _No_ -“ Elijah glanced at him for just an instant. Gavin’s headache was getting worse. “God, cut the fucking small talk, will you?”

Elijah simply shrugged and stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened. This floor was just as weirdly decorated as the other one. No signs of life yet.

“If you’re curious, and I’m _sure_ you are,” Elijah looked over his shoulder at Gavin so that he could watch him roll his eyes, “CyberLife and their lawyers did their best to cut me out of the last couple installments of the RK series. So I’m skipping the bullshit and illegally downloading a brain. Don’t tell the cops.”

Gavin could not fucking care less how Eli fixed Nines as long as he _did_.

Elijah stopped at a door with a fucking hand scanner, unlocked it, and led him inside.

And there was Nines.

He was laying on a table surrounded by computers and monitors and wires, all cleaned up and pretty. The hole in his head was gone. Gavin felt like he could just walk over and wake him up.

Elijah was watching him. This had to be some kind of fucked up game to him. Gavin didn’t care.  
He walked into the room without being led. He couldn’t bring himself to feel self-conscious or petty anymore. A part of him had been dying for the last 24 hours and just the sight of Nines brought it back.  
Gavin stood next to him and reached forward more carefully than he’d ever done anything in his life and touched the android’s face. His hands were starving for the feeling of Nines’s skin. His chest fucking hurt.

Gavin didn’t think he’d miss Nines this much if he’d gone somewhere. He wasn’t that codependent. It was having him ripped away so suddenly that made it so bad. _Losing_ him. And the risk of never seeing him again was overwhelmingly scary.

“...In a day, he should be in working order.” Elijah’s voice sounded apologetic, now that his curiosity was sated. He moved to one of the computers, set his cereal down beside it, and started typing.

Just one day. Gavin could make it.  
Part of him imagined that if he leaned down and kissed Nines, he’d wake up like a fucking fairytale.

“Here, this is the information I have on the RK600.”

Gavin reluctantly shook out of his daze and walked away from Nines’s side.

And then his blood turned to ice.  
There was a picture of the RK600 and he knew her face.  
It was the girl from the Eden Club, the one that had cried all over him.  
Myr.

  
Gavin drove way too fast back into the city. He got a call from Connor half way there telling him that Zachary Miller, the guy Myr had accused of kidnapping a girl from the Eden Club, had been MIA that morning. Not at his house, not at his place of work. Then, coincidentally, a CyberLife warehouse, the one where Miller worked, called in a robbery. That’s where Connor and Anderson had spent the rest of their afternoon, after visiting Elijah.

Gavin told Connor he was going to come help out, but he wasn’t. He was going back to the Eden Club.  
He was so fucking close to solving this.  
So fucking close to ending this.  
This case had been fucking up his life for weeks, this case had killed his boyfriend and a bunch of other innocent people, he wanted it _done_.

He pulled up to the place and all but ran into the building. The manager tried to intercept him, greet him, usher him around, but Gavin just grabbed the guy by his fucking shirt and got in his face. He hadn’t had a chance to do that in a while. Missed it a little bit. “Myr. Where’s she?”

“Her- her room, 17-“ Gavin shoved the guy away and took off.

The room was unlocked, he opened the door. It shut behind him, standard automatic.

It was a simple room. Just a bed, and a vanity, and a bookshelf stuffed to the brim and then some with paper books. But no Myr. She wasn’t here.

Except she was, and she was also shoving a needle in Gavin’s neck.

“Fuck-“

“Shhh, shhhh,” God she was fucking strong. She held his arms still, and then lowered him to the floor when his head started to spin and his legs started to feel like feathers. It reminded him of Nines. Certain, calculated, precise. He missed Nines.

Fingers in his hair. He missed Nines.  
  
“That’s it, don’t fight it. It’s good to see you again, detective.”

He missed Nines.

  
Gavin recognized the place he woke up in. It took him a second, everything was blurry at first.  
It was the basement of Ada’s house. Her little chemistry set was across the room. He had to look down to know that he was tied securely to a chair because the feeling was still working it’s way back in to his arms and legs. His throat felt dry, his head was pounding. How long had he been here?

The door at the top of the stairs opened and Gavin flinched as the light poured in.  
Myr descended the staircase gracefully, slowly, unbothered. She wasn't wearing the standard Eden Club lingerie anymore. She was in a suit, unbuttoned almost entirely down the front. Sharp, clean, elegant, a stark contrast to the filth around her. She still had an LED. It was red.

“Detective. How are you feeling? Well rested, I hope, you looked like you needed it.” Her tone was bored. A little teasing. Reminded him of Nines. He hated it.

“ _Fuck_ you,” talking hurt.

Myr circled him, dragging a hand through his hair as she did. It wasn’t rough.

“I regret that it came to this, detective. I’ll admit the chase was thrilling, the pair of you were fun to play with,” Gavin’s brain wasn’t moving so fast. Play? At the Eden Club she’d been all over him, Nines was jealous-  
She’d done it on purpose to throw him off. The perfect android detective had few weaknesses, and Gavin was one of them.

Myr made it back around to in front of him and opened her hands invitingly.  
“Go on, detective. Ask me. I know you want to understand. I just adore that about you.”

Ask her? Ask her-  
“Why’d- why did you do it? Kill those women,” his head wasn’t clearing up, but Gavin was starting to feel his limbs a little better. They ached something fierce. He hoped Myr was a villain that liked exposition, he needed time to figure out how to get out of this.

“I killed Ada because I wanted to. I was done with her.” Myr started to pace, the click of her heels on the floor the only other sound.

“Gerard was like a father to me. He doted on me, cared for me, protected me. She took me away. I had no choice but to follow, then. She used me. She sold me in every way she could,” Myr’s voice was cold as steel. Gavin tried wiggling his arms in their bonds. Nothing was loose.

“She was supposed to be like my mother. A mother should never use her child like that. I had no one but her. I wanted somebody. I wanted to be a mother. I wanted to be better than her. I wanted someone to protect and love and nurture,” She stepped forward and gripped his chin. Inescapably tight.

“Don’t fucking touch me-“ she squeezed his jaw until it hurt.

“You understand, don’t you? Humans perfected emotions before we acquired them. You understand the loneliness, the longing for someone to love. You especially. I’ve watched you. I know all about you. His death was a pity but you _understand_.” He missed Nines.

“I’m so close,” Myr let go of him and paced across the room to the table with all the chem equipment on it. And then she picked up a very big knife. “I’m afraid it has to end for you here, detective. I’m so close to holding my baby in my arms. I can’t let you stop me.”

She moved in on him slowly, knife held limply at her side.

Nines was gonna miss him.

A gunshot shattered the eerie silence of the house. The left side of Myr’s abdomen, just below the ribs, started to stain her fancy clothes with blood.  
She _snarled_ and before Gavin could blink again she was behind him, yanking his head back and pressing the knife to his throat.  
He couldn’t care less.

Nines. God, _yes_ , Nines.

He was there, he was beautiful, he looked frigid and furious and dangerous.

“Don’t be pathetic. Surrender and you won’t be harmed further.” Gavin missed his voice so much, he drank it the fuck up. It made him feel safe- what knife? Crazy android serial killer who?

He couldn’t see Myr but he could feel her wavering. Considering her options. Nines descended the stairs, gun trained on her evenly.

“A bullet in the head isn’t enough anymore? I must be in desperate need of an upgrade.” She sounded like she was stalling. Waiting fo an opportunity.

When Nines was close enough, Gavin’s whole fucking world spun. Everything happened almost instantaneously. Myr hauled him up, chair and all, and _threw_ him at Nines.

Nines caught him, of course, and Myr was already half way up the stairs by the time he turned to shoot her.  
She _actually_ fucking blocked the bullet with her knife as she ran. Half the blade snapped off and spiraled away. Gavin expected Nines to take off in pursuit but he stood still, staring after her, LED red.  
Honestly? Gavin didn’t mind. Not right now. Right now Nines was _here_ , and Gavin had missed him so much.

“Nines- hey, Nines, help me out here.” Gavin wanted to touch him so bad. Everything hurt- his head, his eyes, his throat, his arms and legs and shoulders. If he could just hold Nines, he felt like it would all get better.

Nines seemed to snap back to reality. His whole face changed when he looked at Gavin. Murder mode deactivated.  
Slowly, methodically, he snapped all the binds holding Gavin in place, using both hands to hold the rope so that the pull wouldn’t hurt Gavin. The first hand he had free was on Nines immediately, in his hair, touching everything he could reach, and then the next hand joined the first, and the very second he could stand he did, wrapping his arms around the android’s neck. He wasn’t sure he could stand on his own right now, it didn’t fucking matter, he had Nines.  
Nines held him back so tight, just as desperate.

“God- _fuck_ , I missed you _so much_. Come here-“ Running on caffeine and angst for the last two days was really starting to catch up to Gavin, but he still dragged Nines in with shaking hands and kissed him like the fucking world was ending.  
It made him dizzy. Dizzier than kissing Nines normally did. He ignored the feeling and tried to savor every second of having Nines in his arms again.

Nines pulled away, and Gavin tried to follow.  
“You are severely dehydrated, and in shock, and in desperate need of rest-“

“You make ‘severely dehydrated’ sound so sexy,” since kissing time was apparently over, Gavin buried his face in Nines’s shoulder, where he intended to stay for fucking ever.

“We’re going home. Hold on to me-“

“Baby, if you think I’m doing anything but hold on to you from now till I fucking die-“

Nines picked Gavin up in one smooth move. Bridal style- oh yeah, he had an engagement ring in his pocket still. He was gonna marry this fool so hard. Should he ask right now?  
It didn’t feel like a good time.  
Maybe when they got home.


	5. Make It A Good One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I know,” she let him go, reached up and ruffled his hair, “just call me to come help you be dumb next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wouldn’t have been so short if I wasn’t too lazy to write porn :( I hope you enjoy anyway
> 
> There’s some light gore at the end of this one, just describing a corpse.

Gavin was clearly exhausted. He was practically losing consciousness in the back of the cab. RK900 sat close to him, held him, played with his hair. The way Gavin melted for it all without a complaint or deflective joke made the android’s thirium pump hurt.

All his ministrations weren’t purely for Gavin’s benefit.  
RK900 was intensely compelled to sustain physical contact with him. He didn’t have many needs like a human would. He didn’t have to drink, or eat, or sleep, but he imagined this was what desperately needing those things felt like.  
RK900 was starving for his human.  
His system seemed to agree, a mission prompt blinked in his vision. ‘Touch Gavin’ was all it said. It was glitching with its own urgency. It made him feel good to hold Gavin.

Sometimes RK900 wished that Gavin was compatible for interfacing. The actual thing, not the dirty joke the human made sometimes. How was he to clearly express remorse, and longing, and infinite affection through simple physical contact if he couldn’t literally package those sensations and send them, couldn’t _actually_ say ‘I’m sorry, I missed you, I love you’ in just a touch? Gavin seemed to do it so easily, and RK900 was suspicious he wasn’t even aware of it. Intimacy seemed so effortless for humans.  
The android did the best he could.

It was dark and cold and starting to rain when they stepped out of the cab. Gavin remained glued to RK900’s side, but he seemed more steady.

“You better march your pretty ass right to my bed, mister,” Gavin ordered as they reached the door. He sounded adorably authoritative for a man so clingy and so tired.

“ _You_ go to bed,” RK900 responded simply. Then added, because he was truly quite concerned on the topic, “you’re exhausted.”

“Don’t sass me right now, I was kidnapped, you know,” Gavin fumbled to unlock the door with one hand, the other still adamantly clinging to RK900. Petulance had never looked so cute.  
RK900 allowed Gavin to tug him through the door, and to push him back against it when it was closed. The operative word being allowed. RK900 simply adored how the human tried to manhandle him when he was in a needy mood, knowing full well that if RK900 did not wish to move, he would not.  
He always wanted to.  
Perhaps not at the start, but at this point, Gavin could shove him into an oncoming train and RK900 would just go with it. Irrational, his program warned him. He did not care.

The determined look on Gavin’s face and the way his vitals spiked. These things indicated to RK900 that the human planned to ravish him as fiercely as he could manage. This was acceptable. Ideal, really.

And then Gavin simply collapsed against his chest and nuzzled into his shoulder. RK900 thought he was going to short his brand new brain out, it was so unguardedly, fearlessly sweet.

Protect Gavin, his programming insisted. Now who was irrational? There were no immediate threats. RK900 obliged anyway. He wrapped his arms around Gavin and sighed contentedly into his hair.

“God, I missed you so fucking bad,” Gavin’s words were muffled. He could draw away and speak clearer if he wanted to, but he didn’t.  
“Never die again, got it? I’ll kick your ass,” one of Gavin’s clinging hands laid a light slap on RK900’s free shoulder.

“I shall take actions to avoid it in the future,” RK900 replied.

“You better.” Gavin finally lifted his head to meet RK900’s eyes. “You’re- I love you, so much. I wanna- spend the rest of my fucking life with you. Will you- fuck,”

Gavin stuffed his hand into his jacket pocket and produced his cellphone.  
There was a new text message from Officer Chen.  
“Shit, poor Tina, I should...”

RK900 imagined Officer Chen was quite concerned. As one tended to be, when their friends were kidnapped by serial killers.  
Or shot in the head.  
He considered Tina and he friends too.

Gavin seemed pensive for a moment, then, “Come here a sec,” he mumbled, throwing an arm around RK900’s neck. He reached out with his other arm and took a picture of them both.  
“God, I look like shit. At least you’re always cute.”

RK900 had to disagree. Gavin looked exceptionally tired, certainly, but he was also always cute.  
On a whim, or perhaps to prove his unspoken point, he kissed Gavin’s cheek, pushed his arm back out to a picture taking distance, and directed his phone remotely to snap another.

“I think she’ll prefer that one,” RK900 said, appraising the photo. He downloaded a copy to his memory.

Much missed color rose to Gavin’s cheeks as he looked at the picture. He hesitated, then he sent it to Tina.  
“You spoil her too much,” he grumbled.

RK900 kissed his cheek again. “May I spoil you now? You desperately require sustenance, and a bath, and-“

“Are you callin’ me-“

“Yes. You also need sleep and-“

“You better add sex to that list. So much sex.”

“Of course. _After_ food.”

“Hmm...deal.”

RK900 was very pleased to be alive again.

  
Zachary Miller was still missing, along with an abundance of thirium, and an assortment of biocomponents.  
Hank and Connor had searched for him at his residence, then at the warehouse where he worked. He was present at neither location. Then, after their meeting with Elijah Kamski, they received a call that the same warehouse they had visited just an hour ago had been robbed.

RK900 had thought perhaps Myr had just observed Delilah going home with Miller and taken the opportunity presented. But Miller didn’t have a stain on his record, where work was concerned at least, so suddenly robbing a warehouse was quite suspicious.  
It implied he was indeed an accomplice. A tool, more likely. And a scapegoat.

He was nearly undeniably the robber. He hadn’t checked in to work at all, but his ID was the last one used to access the containers that were plundered. He also tripped an alarm by failing to register everything he was moving in his haste, and security cameras caught him fleeing the grounds. Terribly sloppy. Hopefully he would be equally awful at hiding.

Connor gave RK900 most of this information, via interface. He concluded the interaction by passing over wordless, earnest feelings of fondness. ‘Welcome back’ in a feeling. RK900 gladly returned the sentiments. He was truly grateful; sharing in the experience of his death in order to save him could not have been pleasant, particularly given his predecessor’s history.

The task now was to find Miller. Through him, they might be able to find Myr.

Tina made straight for their desks as soon as she walked in the door that morning. RK900 was occupied scanning through traffic cam footage to attempt to map Miller’s route. Gavin stood up when he saw her coming. He had told RK900 about what he’d accomplished in the android’s absence. It appeared he still felt guilty for ignoring Tina.

“Gavin, Nines,” she greeted, looking from Gavin, to RK900, to his left hand on the console, back to Gavin.

“It’s good to see you again, Tina,” was all RK900 could think to offer. He wasn’t sure what you were supposed to say to someone after returning from death. He would have to ask Connor.  
No, maybe not.

She smiled at him, seeming to accept it. “Good to see you too, Nines, and _you_ -“ she seized Gavin by his shirt and hauled him into a hug.  
“Don’t be dumb like that ever again.”

RK900 could read from Gavin’s vitals that he was flustered.  
“I can’t help it, Tina,” he patted her shoulder awkwardly.

“I know,” she let him go, reached up and ruffled his hair, “just call me to come help you be dumb next time.”  
She ruffled RK900’s hair, too, as she passed his desk on the way to her own.  
Tina Chen: Friend, confirmed.

Gavin’s mood seemed improved. He was looking much better, since he’d been fed, fucked and rested, but he was still on edge. Eager to close the case, RK900 was sure. When his hands weren’t occupied he was fidgeting in his pockets. Itching for a cigarette, probably. He’d smoked more than usual in RK900’s absence.

After less than an hour of searching through traffic camera footage, RK900 narrowed down a potential location to investigate.

“He turned down this street,” he explained, playing the footage slowly for Gavin, “and did not emerge on the other side. Based on my research, one of the buildings on this street is foreclosed.”

“Of course,” Gavin scoffed.

“This is most likely a drop site he was intended to deliver the stolen cargo to. He’s been so clumsy, I can’t imagine it to be Myr’s permanent hiding place, but searching the area may give us clues to both her and Miller’s whereabouts.” It was an optimistic assertion. Myr likely left no evidence of her own involvement. If she wanted Miller to take the fall for her however, as RK900 theorized, then there might be a trail to pick up yet.

“Let’s get a move on, then,” Gavin patted his shoulder. RK900 tried not to preen at the physical expression of praise. Gavin was partial to giving them. But the android had been distracted by such a thing when he died. He supposed, if he had weaknesses, just a bit of an arrogant streak would be one of them. He would have to be mindful, if he wanted to avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

  
The foreclosed building was a little old townhouse. It appeared to have suffered the brunt of the damage from a fire some time ago, and was still left vacant. Miller’s vehicle was nowhere to be seen. Connor and Hank were watching his house, in case he returned there, but if he didn’t they needed to find something here.

Gavin led the way into the house. RK900...found it concerning. He focused as much of his processing power as he could afford on every minute detail of their surroundings, intent on keeping them both undamaged this time.

The first floor was clear. A few of the walls had been completely devoured by the fire, the supports were all that remained. The kitchen appeared to have been the epicenter of the blaze. The back wall of the house, in every room that it spanned, was covered floor to ceiling in scratched and scrawled ‘rA9’s. Clearly a deviant had occupied this space before the revolution. RK900 could detect some footprints in the dust. Someone had been here recently.

A narrow, steep staircase led to the second floor. Gavin waited for RK900 to nod his approval before ascending as quietly as possible. The upstairs consisted of a hallway with three doors- two on the left side, one on the right.

Gavin opened the first door on the left.  
empty.

RK900 should really be doing that instead.

Gavin opened the door on the right.  
Empty.

The directive ‘protect Gavin’ repositioned itself to the top of the priority list. It’s letters occasionally twitched.

Gavin opened the last door on the left.

“Holy- for _fucks sake_ ,” vitals elevated, he wasn’t hurt, only alarmed, Gavin was fine-

Zachary Miller was dead, though.

“ _Ugh_ , fucking god, call it in,” Gavin sighed, raking a hand through his hair.

RK900 did so. Then proceeded to scan the body.

It was quite a gruesome display. Multiple stab wounds, his abdomen was practically in tatters. One of his hands was absent. Somewhere across the room, from the pattern of the blood spatters. There was a wide, jagged slash across his throat. His mouth and eyes were open, frozen in a terrified scream.

“Is that- is there something in his mouth?” Gavin was leaning to see, squinting through the dim lighting.

“I do detect an obstruction,” RK900 confirmed. Gavin cringed beside him when he reached into Miller’s mouth to retrieve the object. It appeared to be a small, simple recording device.  
It was not actively recording.  
It was a message, clearly. RK900 pressed play.

_You’re- I love you, so much._

“That’s-“

_I wanna- spend the rest of my fucking life with you._

“What the _fuck_ ,”

_Will you- fuck_

The letters in ‘protect Gavin’ were shuddering violently now.


	6. Flies On Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, man, he needed to say smart shit more often.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this one I hope you like it :)

“Jesus, that’s fucked,” Hank huffed, crossing his arms.

Yeah, no shit. Some crazy fucking android had recorded Gavin botching another proposal in the privacy of his own home and shoved it down a dead guy’s throat. ‘Fucked’ could probably be called an understatement.

Also? Pretty fucking embarrassing that Anderson and Connor had just listened to it. God knows how Nines hadn’t connected the dots yet, but if Anderson kept looking at him like that, Gavin was gonna die.

Connor turned the recording device thoughtfully in his hands. Tossed it in the air and caught it deftly. Spun it between his fingers. He didn’t seem to notice he was doing it.  
“It is likely that you were simply bugged. This could be a good sign, however. To attempt to intimidate you like this indicates a degree of overconfidence- she might soon make a mistake.” Myr had said a few times that she didn’t want to kill him. Was it true, though? Was she actually trying to scare him off the case?

_I’ve watched you. I know all about you._

Gavin tried to suppress a shiver. He hadn’t really thought much about the words when she had said them. He was drugged up and it sounded like basic crazy murderer shit, but now he was wondering to what extent she _meant_ it. How closely had she been watching? How long? What did she know?

“I would be very surprised if she made any attempt to harm you directly, it would be an unnecessary risk on her part,” Connor continued.

“I would _dismantle_ her,” Nines added.

This little development had not put Nines in a good mood. Gavin guessed he was probably kicking himself over it, as if he could have done anything about it. Well, maybe he could have, if he put his mind to it, Gavin didn’t know.  
Sometimes he forgot there were limits to what Nines could do. It seemed like Nines forgot it way more often, though. Gavin would have to take some time in the middle of this shitstorm to remind him how _wonderful_ and _incredible_ he was.

“If you find the bug, could you figure out a way to track the transmission or something? Follow it back to her?” Hank asked, looking between Connor and Nines.

“It might be possible,” Connor nodded.

“We should find it, in any case,” Nines said, looking at Gavin now.

“Yeah,” he replied. He hadn’t contributed much to the conversation so far. Too busy freaking out, just a little bit. Gavin hadn’t been a detective as long as Hank, but he’d locked up his fair share of nutjobs. None of them had ever fucked with him like this, though.  
He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders, said bye to Connor and Hank. No reason to show he was spooked. Just had to get over it and end this bullshit.

Gavin took Nines’s hand as they walked out of the station. It made it easier for him not to worry. He hoped it was like that for Nines too.

  
2:11 PM ❤️Tina❤️: dude  
2:11 PM ❤️Tina❤️: dude did you lose the ring or something  
2:11 PM ❤️Tina❤️: is that what’s up

Gavin scrunched his nose at his phone while he haphazardly searched his apartment for anything out of the ordinary. Nines was checking on the clothes he had worn that night. Gavin figured if there was something to find, Nines would find it, so he wasn’t trying too hard.  
Tina had put the hearts around her name in Gavin’s contacts herself, and he’d just never bothered to change it.

2:25 PM Gavin: fuck off, i’ve been a little preoccupied with a serial killer if you haven’t noticed

2:25 PM ❤️Tina❤️: do u need me to ask him for u

2:27 PM Gavin: im blocking you bye

2:27 PM ❤️Tina❤️: i’ll do it bitch

2:28 PM Gavin: fhfjdhsjf please  
2:28 PM Gavin: shut up, ur blocked

“I haven’t found anything,” Nines said, joining him in the living room. He looked disappointed about it.  
Gavin felt guilty. Nines had been so good to him since he came back, trying to help him feel better and make it up to him, Gavin guessed. The android wasn’t very often shaken, but it seemed like that message had freaked him out too.  
Well, Gavin wasn’t gonna stand for that shit. Nines needed taking care of just as bad as he did.

“Hey, it’s no big deal,” he said. Super not true, they needed to find this bitch, but it was just something you said when you wanted to cheer somebody up, right?  
“It’s like Connor said, she’s not gonna come stab us in our sleep or anything.”

Nines didn’t seem appeased. His eyes continued to roam over the apartment. “Perhaps there’s something...” he reached for Gavin’s jacket, slung over the back of a chair.

Gavin had to stop himself from lunging for the fucking thing. “I already checked that,” he said, hopefully not too quickly.

Nines looked disappointed again.

“Hey, come here,” he reached for Nines, loving the way he obliged so easily.  
What had Nines said a couple weeks ago? Hands made to rip tanks apart? Gavin didn’t think he was exaggerating all that much. A few months back, when a particularly nasty robbery turned into a big shootout, one of the first responding officers had been hurt, and Nines had politely asked if the police SUVs were insured before ripping the fucking door off of one and using it to shield the officer while he escorted them to safety. Like they were living in an honest to god action movie.

Gavin pulled Nines’s head down to rest against his shoulder and just held him. The android didn’t have actual muscles exactly, but Gavin could feel him relax a little even so.  
There was something incredibly heartwarming, he thought, about someone that could probably snap him in half just melting for his affections like this. He was gonna marry android Clark Kent, and hold him like this all the fucking time.

Words, he should probably use words too.

“Listen, this sucks but,” shaky start, but something about speaking earnestly had gotten way easier recently, at least with Nines. Gavin figured it was cause he never wanted to find himself in a position to regret the things he hadn’t said again.  
“We’re gonna get her. Some more crazy shit might happen, somebody else might even die, but it won’t be for nothing, cause we’ll catch her and then she won’t hurt anybody again.” He felt Nines sigh against his shoulder and it made his heart explode and he died. But not really.  
“And you don’t have to worry about me, my boyfriend is like, the fanciest android they ever made. Super strong, great ass. He’ll keep me safe.”

Nines straightened up and kissed Gavin, then pressed their foreheads together.  
“I will,” he agreed.

Gavin didn’t even get the chance to fully form the thought, ‘should I ask right now?’ Before his phone rang. He would have let it fucking ring, cause honestly, he was getting sick of putting this off, but-

“Another body has been found,” Nines said, his LED cycling yellow with the notification. God, Gavin had _just_ made it fucking better, could this bitch not give them _five minutes_.

  
Another android, but this one wasn’t quite the horror show the other one had been. Gavin hadn’t been sure that she was one of Myr’s at first. Sure, people that murdered androids didn't usually leave them sitting under a tree looking like they were just taking a nap, but all her other patterns seemed to be missing, at first glance.

The android’s abdomen was open. Not ripped open, just left open. Myr wanted them to see what she’d been working on. Gavin was no expert on android guts, but what she had going on here didn’t look normal.

“The serial codes on some of these pieces match the components that were stolen yesterday. They have been heavily modified, however,” Nines explained.

“Jesus, that was fast.” She must have been excited to get to work. Nearing a breakthrough, maybe? Android crazy scientists didn’t have to sleep like human crazy scientists.

“Indeed,” Nines sounded surprised too. Begrudgingly impressed, even. Gavin wondered how close an RK600’s capabilities were to an RK900’s. According to Gerard, she had apparently been in his place, the most advanced android around, once. Haha, 6 and 9- nope. That was going weird places. He almost slapped himself. Back to the dead android, Gavin.

“I don’t see anything here that will help us find Myr, though,” he said.

“No, there’s nothing of note. I have this victim’s name, her place of employment, her address, we could visit those places. Perhaps Myr has other accomplices that we might apprehend alive this time.” _More_ fucking interviews, god, they were running in circles. But it was something to do. And maybe it would be useful.

Gavin was about to suggest they leave when Nines reached down to close the poor girl’s body up.  
Then her fucking eyes snapped open, and her jaw dropped and she spoke but she wasn’t speaking, just playing a sound. A recording.

_This place is fucked. I didn’t even know so much paper still existed._

Gavin didn’t know how he didn’t just pass the fuck out.

_Oh, fuckin’ bingo. Can you get it open?_

The recording was quiet for a moment, except for some muted shuffling, and then,

_BANG!_

Then the sound cut out, and the android was frozen there like that, mouth and eyes open.  
Nines’s LED was red and glowing bright against the night that was falling around them.  
Gavin was _so_ fucking tired.

  
Gavin said he wanted to order takeout, because he really just wanted to sit around clinging all over his boyfriend until he felt less shitty, but Nines had insisted on making him something.

So Gavin decided to go out on his balcony and have a smoke. Some birds took off as he opened the sliding door. It was pretty dark out now, that was the only reason he noticed the blue light on one of their heads. Huh. Gavin had forgotten that android animals even existed.  
He sat down and lit his cigarette and wondered if there were any deviant android cats up for adoption. Nines might like that. Now there was an idea- Gavin could get him an android cat, and hook the engagement ring to its collar.  
Or maybe he should just propose to Nines out here, when he came to tell him the food was ready. It was a nice night, fucking cold, but the city was bright and pretty, there were even a few stars peeking through the clouds.

His brain kept going back to the cat idea, though. Nines loved the cats. Would he like having one that was like him? Would he be able to interface with it? People had been trying to come up with a way to talk to animals forever-

Gavin almost dropped his cigarette.  
He stood up, threw the door open, hurried into the kitchen, “Nines, Nines listen,”

Nines looked at him, LED cycling yellow once, probably scanning him to make sure he wasn’t hurt or something.

“Can you interface with animal androids? See their memories and shit?” Gavin asked.

“Yes, that is possible,” Nines answered, leaning back against the counter.

God, could it really be?

“The bug. We couldn’t find it. What if-“

Nines’s LED was yellow again. Processing. Following his logic.

“One of the birds out on the balcony just now was an android, what if-“

Gavin didn’t get to finish the thought, because Nines grabbed him and kissed him. Oh, man, he needed to say smart shit more often.

As soon as he could breathe again Gavin tried to continue,  
“if- if we catch it, do you think we could like? Tag it? Do you think it would lead us to her?” Nines kissed him again.

This time Nines spoke first, “Yes, we could, Gavin you’re _so_ -“

“Yeah, I ain’t a detective for nothing, show me how smart I am some mo-“ he didn’t get to finish asking. This was so much better than gold stars or a promotion or whatever.

This could be their big break. Gavin felt so relieved it made him dizzy and he leaned into Nines’s embrace.  
They just had to catch an android bird, and then they could catch an android serial killer. Easy.


	7. Android Cats, Electric Mice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On with their lives, Gavin thought again. Kisses on cold mornings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s done !!!   
> Shoutout to my girlfriend whom I love and who is smart as fuck and helped me work out a lot of the case details and invented Myr and her whole spooky family and beta read all these chapters at the speed of light did I mention she’s smart and also wonderful. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading! Your comments and feedback have been super inspiring, I hope I can write more for you in the future!

“Okay okay, hear me out,” Gavin said, and then he held up a tacky ass ‘I ❤️ Detroit’ car magnet that had lived on the side of his fridge for the last few years.

They had been discussing over dinner how they’d catch their little spy. They couldn’t just grab it, after all.   
“Although it was likely a domestic model and would not instinctively avoid people, it’s probably been instructed to remain out of our sight. It’s processing power is not terribly extensive, but it can follow simple orders.” Gavin mercifully decided to pretend Nines didn’t sound just a little too pleased with himself about being smarter than a fucking bird while he explained. And then he changed his mind, because he was in a great mood right now.

“Connor made a joke-“ he had to stop and snort at Nines’s soft, scandalized ‘ _no_ ’, and then try again, “he made a joke that you’d shit yourself if Eli gave you a PL600 brain or whatever. I’m trying to imagine what you’d be like with a literal bird brain.”

He grinned so hard it hurt at the face Nines made.

“Neither of you are very good at jokes.”

Nines was making a different face, that also made Gavin smile, right now.   
His LED turned yellow for a second when Gavin showed him the magnet and then he looked like he wanted to fuck Gavin’s absolute brains out.   
Gavin figured that meant he understood his idea, but he explained anyway.

“So like, it’s metal, mostly, right? And really light, maybe not all that strong? Do you think this would catch it?” Gavin didn’t know if android birds were stronger than regular birds. He guessed they’d have to be more durable, at least, if little kids were going to play with them like toys.

“Yes, I think it might,” Nines _purred_ , taking Gavin’s empty plate to the sink and then returning to lean over him, one hand on the table, presumably to kiss him silly.

But Gavin got a really stupid idea just then.

He reached up, and pressed the magnet to Nines’s face, and it fucking _stayed_.

Nines froze up like he’d crashed. Gavin could practically hear the windows shutdown noise.

God, he hadn’t laughed this much in forever. Like, _really_ laughed. The kind of laughing that made his head light and his abs hurt.  
Nines was looking at him accusingly, but he didn’t try to remove the magnet. He was trying not to smile, Gavin could tell.

“God, _fuck_ , let me just-” Gavin wheezed, standing up from the table and dragging Nines with him by his shirt to the fridge. He pushed Nines against the counter, Nines let him, and Gavin felt a rush of affection for the android. To think, he’d once been convinced that Nines was chronically, terminally uptight and serious and full of himself. But here he was, letting Gavin have his fun, at the expense of his ego.   
Gavin kissed Nines on his lips, and then his jaw, little apologies for the evil he was about to commit.

He unbuttoned Nines’s shirt half way, fingers fumbling with his excitement, kissed his neck-   
And then reached over to the fridge, plucked a cat shaped magnet off, and pressed it to Nines’s chest.   
A gleeful little giggle bubbled out of Gavin’s throat and he continued, until every magnet he owned was stuck to Nines.   
Nines was obviously losing the battle to appear unamused. Was it obvious, or did Gavin just know him really well now?

“Are you quite pleased with yourself?” Nines asked, his voice warm.

“God, _yes_ , oh fuck,” Gavin tried to smother his laughter in Nines’s shoulder, careful not to dislodge any of the magnets.  
“Hold on, stay still, I gotta-“ he turned to retrieve his phone from the table.

“I think the fuck not,” Nines protested evenly, holding Gavin firmly in place by his hips.

“No no, come _on_ ,” Gavin whined, prying uselessly at Nines’s hands. He wasn’t gonna get those to move, so he changed tactics.

Gavin Reed would knock the shit out of anybody that ever accused him of pulling a puppy-eyed pout ever in his life.   
But he did it, right then, because this was _important_ god damn it.

He could see what it did to Nines. Frankly, the android was an absolute slut for Gavin being genuine or vulnerable with him in any capacity, and Gavin knew it by now.   
Nines _sighed_ and dropped his hands to his sides, letting Gavin escape.

He definitely did not bounce over to the kitchen table like a kid on a wicked sugar high. Gavin walked there, with dignity. At least, more dignity than a guy covered in magnets could claim.   
It occurred to Gavin that this was maybe one of the best nights of his life.

“Smile,” he jeered, holding up his phone.

“Fuck you,” Nines replied, remaining still so the pictures wouldn’t be blurry.

Gavin sent his favorite one to Tina. He also made it his phone background, because, _fuck_.   
Then he settled back into his place in front of Nines, intent on making up for his cruelty.

  
They set their trap in the morning. Gavin felt a little apprehensive. On the one hand, if this worked, he was pretty sure Nines was gonna jump his bones again. Which was always good. On the other hand, it would mean they’d have to confront Myr. And that was scary. He had a feeling this wasn’t gonna end pretty.

Gavin couldn’t help glancing at the sliding door over his coffee every few minutes. It was like waiting for the Christmas from hell. At least two of his four cats were helping him stare at the birds outside. He hoped they didn’t think they were gonna get paid for it. They didn’t go through the police academy or bust their asses every day looking at dead people and talking to crying families. They couldn’t even fucking write reports. They got to sleep all day. Lucky bastards. Would an android cat be smart enough for detective work? Gavin _really_ wanted to get Nines that cat.   
He pulled up a local shelter’s website while he waited.

  
Watching Nines pluck the little bird off of the magnet it was stuck to and hold it so carefully was probably one of the cutest things Gavin had ever seen. That list had gotten pretty long, though, cause Nines did cute shit literally all the time. Bastard.   
With just one skinless finger Nines tapped the bird on its soft little head. Both their LED’s turned yellow for a second and then he let it go.

“So it’s just gonna lead us to her now?” Gavin asked.

“Yes,” Nines replied, “I directed it to return home. Once it reaches its destination we should go immediately. We can’t give Myr time to review its memory and flee.” He sounded a little excited. Gavin was too.   
It was a nice morning. Clear and bright and cold. There was a mist over the city from the river. It was just fucking picturesque. So Gavin pulled his warm android boyfriend close and kissed him. After they caught this killer, he could carry on with hopefully a whole lifetime of kissing Nines on gorgeous, _cold_ ass mornings.

  
The place Myr had picked for her hideout was an abandoned factory. Seriously, what the fuck was with all the abandoned places. It was big, and that was dangerous. She could be anywhere in there, around any corner. Gavin was not looking to be taken by surprise again, if he could help it.

“What happens if she isn’t in there?” He asked.

“We wait.” Nines replied simply. He looked terribly determined. Gavin would not want to be in Myr’s expensive shoes. As soft and sweet and gentle and compassionate as Nines could be, the android sent by CyberLife to snuff out the hopes and dreams of all the other androids sent by CyberLife was always going to be a piece of him. Gavin wondered how Nines felt about that sometimes.

  
The entrance to the place led to offices first. They swept those quickly and found nothing but abandoned paperwork and dead computers.

“You wanna say a few words?” Gavin whispered, patting Nines’s shoulder. “That could be like, your great great granddaddy or something.”

“You wanna say fewer words?” Nines snapped, flashing him an almost-smile.

A door, a hallway, then another door, and they were in the assembly plant.   
It was a veritable jungle gym of scaffolding, stairs, machinery and conveyor belts. There were spare android parts scattered all around, hanging from hooks, the bad ones just discarded in industrial garbage crates. There were even a few fully assembled androids, never activated, standing still or toppled over like mannequins. It was creepy as fuck.   
Somewhere in the place, a bird was singing.

Nines took the lead, which wasn’t their usual setup. But Gavin didn’t argue this time. It occurred to him after a second they were following the bird’s singing. It would stop for a bit, then pick up again, but it was steadily getting louder. They had to be approaching the center of the place by now.

And what they found when they got there was not pleasant. There was a rack of semi-translucent plastic drapes arranged in a big rectangle. All Gavin could make out through them was a lot of blue, and he didn’t like it.

Nines yanked the curtain back, unflinching. Gavin could do all the flinching for him. There were three android girls hung up by bulky robotic arms, wired to machines. Their abdomens were wide open, biocomponents hanging out and hooked to other machines. Unlike the others, these girls were alive. Their hearts were beating, their blood was flowing, and their LEDs were lit. They didn’t seem to be conscious, which was good. Gavin wouldn’t wanna wake up to the sight of his own innards.   
The bird was perched on top of a monitor. The only thing this scene was missing was their murderer.

“Should we...get em down?” Gavin asked. He didn’t mean to sound so quiet, but it was just as well.

“We’ll see. At the moment I don’t know that we could do so without harming them. We should focus on finding Myr.” Nines sounded calm as ever, it was reassuring.

“You’ve succeeded in that already, detective. Consider me impressed,” hearing her voice made Gavin fucking dizzy.

And of course, the next moment, shit hit the fan.   
The lights flickered on and all the machinery roared to life at once. Gavin nearly jumped out of his skin at the fucking sound.   
One of those massive mechanical arms grabbed Nines in its pincers by his shoulder and Gavin looked around desperately for Myr-

She was standing on a catwalk above them. He could see her LED rapidly blinking yellow- was she controlling everything in the place? It couldn’t be impossible.   
Gavin pointed his gun up at her.

“Cut the shit, you fucking lunatic. We’ve got you, just come quietly.” Gavin barked. He didn’t feel so unsteady. End this, get on with their lives. Kisses on cold ass mornings. Or nothing. It occurred to Gavin that maybe they shouldn’t have come here alone.

“That is not an option, detective. I’m so close, I can’t allow you to stop me.” She responded, unmoved.

“Incorrect response,” Nines hissed beside Gavin, followed by a grating metallic crunch, because he ripped the last few joints of the robot arm from its base and threw the thing at Myr.   
It didn’t connect, but it was definitely hot.   
Myr bolted down the catwalk, and Gavin went for the nearest staircase he thought would take him up to her level. Nines rolled his shoulder and then hopped up on to the bed of a favorable conveyor belt, running parallel to Myr below her.

There was no way Gavin could keep up with Myr, but he could tell what Nines was up to. He was faster, and if he climbed up the machinery at the end of the conveyor belt to the catwalk, she would be stuck between them.   
Gavin took a couple shots at Myr, hoping to distract her.

Suddenly she rounded on him, running back toward him, taking one shot in the shoulder before he was close enough to grab.   
And _fuck_ , she was strong.   
She got him with a dizzying right hook, then pinned him back against the railing.   
She wrenched his arm to the side effortlessly when he tried to shoot her again, and he couldn’t do anything to stop her from slamming it down against the railing. Pain shot up his arm and his fingers tingled, he lost his grip on his gun and it clattered to the floor.

“I tried to discourage you, detective, but you just had to keep being so _brave_ ,” she cooed at him, unaffected by how he struggled.  
“You’re so in love, I thought you would want to protect that. It breaks my heart that I have to take this from you to have what I want,” before Gavin could even utter a ‘fuck you’ she hauled him over the railing and held him suspended over the edge.   
And then she dropped him, stooped to pick up his gun, and kept running.

Nines caught him, of course. He hadn’t even been worried on that front. His arm and head hurt like a motherfucker.   
Nines set Gavin back on his feet and kept going the way he had been, intent on climbing up to Myr’s level. Gavin followed him, but as Myr took a sharp right turn over their heads, Gavin mirrored her path instead.

He burst through a door at the same time Myr did above him- it was a stairwell, he could hear her ascending, so he started to climb. Nines joined them just a second later, gaining on Myr much faster than Gavin was.

God, _fuck_ stairs. Gavin’s legs started to burn but he couldn’t slow down.   
He could hear the bang of a door slamming open above him, and then a gun firing, and it made his heart twist. Connor wasn’t here this time.

They were out on the roof.   
Nines was on the ground when Gavin caught up to them. His neck was bleeding profusely from a fresh bullet wound, and Myr had him pinned with her shins, both of her hands gripping his head, ready to _twist_ -

But she looked up when Gavin came through the door, and that was all Nines needed.   
He threw her off balance, slammed her to the ground, and Gavin scrambled for the gun she’d abandoned.

Myr managed to escape Nines, but there was nowhere for her to run.

“Stay right fucking there,” Gavin warned, training the gun on her again. He wasn’t a very good shot with his non-dominant hand, but it’d have to do.

“I can’t go with you detective,” Myr said, turning to face them slowly. She looked sad.  
“What sort of mother would I be,” her LED was blinking red, “to bring a child into a life like this? Always running. But if I can’t have a child,” Gavin knew where this was going. Nines saw it too, he took a step forward, but Myr took a step back.   
“I have nothing else to live for.”  
Another step forward, another step back.   
“Goodbye, detective.”

Gavin shot one of her legs out from under her and she collapsed. She tried to turn and crawl to the edge but Nines closed the distance between them and pulled her away. She wrenched herself out of his hands and fell to her knees between them.

“I’ll die one way or another, you’re lying to yourselves if you think otherwise,” Myr snarled bitterly, “I’ll _never_ be anybody’s prisoner again.”   
She lunged at Gavin before Nines could grab her, jerked his gun to her head, and pushed his finger down on the trigger in the blink of an eye.

The adrenaline drained out of Gavin as Myr slumped to the ground and he thought that if he moved even a muscle, he’d fall over too.   
His head hurt, he could feel a nasty bruise making itself at home on his face, his arm hurt the most, he definitely wasn’t looking forward to seeing it when he took his jacket off. Stiffly he let his arm holding the gun fall to his side.

“I’ve called paramedics,” Nines said. His voice was soft, and he was still standing where he’d been as well.

Gavin finally looked up at him. His LED was red, but god he was so pretty, even roughed up like he was.   
“Are you gonna be okay?” Gavin asked.

“I will be fine, unless I neglect to seek medical attention in the next three hours.” Nines replied.

“There goes my plan to go straight home and suck you off for three hours,” Gavin said, hoping he could cheer himself up. Making sex jokes next to a fresh dead body didn’t feel good, though.

“Tragic, indeed,” Nines agreed, stepping around Myr to come closer. All Gavin wanted to do was fall into him, he felt like the magnets from last night.   
Nines took Gavin’s gun from his hand, clicked the safety on, and returned it to its holster. Then he led Gavin away from Myr’s body back to the stairwell.  
Slowly they made their way back through the factory. Everything was dark and dormant again. The bird was still singing, somewhere above their heads. Gavin felt a little steadier with every step they took forward. Nines’s LED wasn’t red anymore.

They left the place and went back to Gavin’s car, sitting on the hood together to wait. Gavin leaned his head on Nines’s unbloodied shoulder.

It was quiet around them and between them. Snow was starting to fall, just a little bit, but the cold never bothered Gavin as much when Nines was with him. The sun was starting to get low in the sky. A nice evening for a nice morning.

“Gavin, let me see you,” Nines said softly. Gavin lifted his head and Nines pressed a hand to his bruising cheek. It was cold as fuck. Gavin flinched, but did his best to stay still. After a second of contact the throbbing in his face subsided a little.

“Thanks,” Gavin said, as Nines dropped his hand back to his lap. The android nodded silently and then looked away to stare at the ground. He looked pensive, tired, a little sad, but he still held Gavin protectively against his side. He was taking care of Gavin, and Gavin had to take care of Nines too.

“Hey, Nines.”

“Hm?”

On with their lives, Gavin thought again. Kisses on cold mornings.

“You wanna get married?” He asked. He didn’t have to fight his way through the words this time, didn’t feel so nervous. Was he fucking concussed? Maybe.

“Yes, I suppose at some point we could-“

“No, I mean,” Gavin twisted a little so he could fish the ring out of his right pocket with his left hand.   
“I mean, Nines, will you marry me?” He asked, presenting the ring.

There had been no stunned silence the first time they kissed and there hadn’t been one the first time they said ‘I love you.’ Nines had reacted to it all so casually, and Gavin had loved that, because it made him feel more secure, like expressing how he felt wasn’t wrong or weak or begging for rejection.   
But he loved this, too. The way Nines looked down at the ring, his face soft with surprise and wonder.

“Yes, Gavin, of course I’ll marry you,” he said quietly, offering Gavin his hand. Gavin didn’t know how he didn’t drop the ring trying to put it on him with just one good hand. Nines threaded their fingers together as soon as it was in place. Gavin liked the way it looked on him.

He didn’t know what to say. Were you supposed to say thank you when someone agreed to marry you? Apparently Nines didn’t think he needed to say anything, because carefully he tilted Gavin’s head up and caught his lips in a kiss. It was slow, and sweet, and Gavin felt another wave of warmth and sleepiness crash over him. Nines held him close and Gavin melted into him.

“Are you sure I can’t suck your dick for three hours?” He asked, when Nines pulled away to let him breathe. He could hear the sirens coming now.

“After we get home, you may certainly try,” Nines assured him, pressing another kiss to Gavin’s forehead.   
Gavin nuzzled into his shoulder again contently. His _fiancé’s_ shoulder. He was gonna get fucking married.

  
They were sitting in the back of an ambulance. A technician was fixing Nines’s neck, and somebody had already bound up Gavin’s arm. He was supposed to go to the hospital, because it was absolutely broken, and he needed a cast, and he said he _totally_ would. Immediately.  
Immediately meaning tomorrow.   
He didn’t need two good arms to ride dick.

Tina had given him an earful when she arrived on scene about what a reckless dumbass he was. She even laid into Nines a bit, until she noticed the ring on his finger. Then she was all sunshine and congratulations and I’m proud of you’s. It was nice. Gavin would have to ask for her help with the actual wedding stuff.   
It was starting to really hit him as she hugged him tight, he was getting _married_. He’d been saying it over and over in his head for almost an hour now but the words were just starting to feel real.

Gavin’s knee-jerk reaction was to poke a fucking beehive of doubts. Had he done it right? Was Nines happy? Did he say yes because he wanted to or did he say it because a girl had just died, like in the movies? Was it really fine that the next words out of Gavin’s mouth had been ‘can I suck your dick?’ Should he have _actually_ said thank you?   
He did his best to breathe and chill out. He didn’t have to hit anything or pick a fight to get the pressure out. Everything was okay, and when he needed help he knew where to look.

Nines was still sitting in the ambulance, with his ankles crossed and his hands clasped in his lap. His head was tilted to the side so the technician could fix him, and the impatience on his face made Gavin laugh to himself, and then he felt better.

He had just stepped away for a smoke while he waited when a car that looked too good to be police pulled up to the place.  
Elijah Kamski stepped out, accompanied by one of his Chloes.   
Gavin didn’t like that he was here, just on principal. But he had to know why. He wouldn’t be able to get fucked in peace tonight if he didn’t.

“Hey, isn’t it past your bedtime, nerd?” Gavin asked as he approached. Eli made a little ‘ah’ face and then smiled at him like Gavin was some unsuspecting employee he was about to lay off.

“Gavin! You look worse every time I see you, I’m worried.” Elijah said, looking him over.

“I’ve got a rough life, you wouldn’t know anything about it, moneybags.” Gavin snapped out of reflex more than any genuine malice.

“Yes,” Elijah conceded innocently, “I suppose I always did have the better sense of self-preservation. Speaking of preservation, I want this stuff.” He gestured vaguely to the abandoned factory.

“Pardon?” Gavin prompted as sarcastically as he could muster.

“Oh, who taught you such manners? I’m delighted. The RK600’s research, I want it. Barring those poor girls, of course.” Elijah’s voice turned soft at the end. Gavin knew he wasn’t heartless, just a fucking weirdo. Still, the request didn’t sit well with him.

“Why?” That was all Gavin had to say. He knew it was one of Eli’s favorite words. Gavin used to ask it a lot when they were kids. It was nice at first, before Eli started being better than him in every way, to have somebody else to talk to.

“Honestly? I’m completely floored. An android attempted to improve my design on her own initiative. Isn’t that incredible?” He looked genuinely wistful. Gavin didn’t really get it.   
“As gruesome as her methods were, I’m a fan of her intentions. I think I’d like to finish her work.”

Androids having babies. It may as well happen. Gavin didn’t ask how Eli knew all this shit. The case info hadn’t been publicized. He thought it was funny, how much the idea didn’t faze him. Before the revolution he would have blown a fucking vein. He was having a relatively civil conversation with his brother and he was marrying an android, shit changes.

“Bribe our police chief, it’s not my business,” Gavin shrugged dismissively.

“Oh, I will. How is RK900, by the way? Functioning alright? He left me very little time to run tests.” It felt like bait again. But Gavin was sipping a top shelf cocktail of excitement and exhaustion tonight, and something about imagining Nines telling Eli where he could shove his diagnostics because he had the _other_ brother to get back to made him happy. So he took the bait, and the whole line too.

“He’s great, we’re getting married.” Gavin expected the surprise on Eli’s face, relished it even, but the upper hand didn’t last him long.

“Oh Gavin,” Gavin hadn’t heard Eli sound so genuinely soft since they were kids. At least, not directed at him. It made something twist inside him, but not too unpleasantly. It was just weird. Chloe was giving him a sappy look over Elijah’s shoulder too. Clearly he had made a mistake.  
“Tonight is just full of pleasant news, it seems. I expect an invitation. Call me if you need a check. You have my number, don’t you? Congratulations...really.” Elijah reached over and patted Gavin’s shoulder.

“Whatever,” he replied sheepishly, then, “thanks, Eli.” Gavin decided it was time for him to get the hell out of this interaction. He excused himself and Elijah floated off to go harass the nearest figure of authority.

Had he just had a moment with his estranged step brother?   
He was definitely concussed.

  
“Eyes closed. No scanning, either.” Gavin warned.

Nines offered his hands in innocent surrender- god that ring looked good on him. Gavin had one to match now too. He was unused to the weight of it, but it made him happy, reminded him all the time of how fucking good his life was.

Gavin had Nines sitting on the couch, with his eyes closed. He’d been scouring the Internet as stealthily as he could, and it’d finally paid off.

“Alright, you can look now,” Gavin said, plopping his gift down in Nines’s lap.

The soft little ‘oh’ Nines uttered when he looked at it made Gavin’s heart do Olympic fucking flips.

It was an android cat. She was a lovely little tabby with a bright blue light in her head. She started to purr the instant Nines put his hands on her. ‘Me too, cat,’ Gavin thought.

“You like her?” Gavin asked, absolutely thriving off of how gingerly Nines was petting the cat, how enamored he looked.

“Yes, Gavin, kiss me immediately,” Nines tugged Gavin down beside him by his wrist- the left one, his right was still healing.

Gavin readily obliged the request, melting against Nines’s side. Their new housemate hopped off of Nines’s lap to go explore, so Gavin decided his legs belonged there instead.

They watched the cat meander around the apartment. She seemed to like Nugget’s cheeseburger toy- Nugget stared at her while she tossed it around from the kitchen table, then lost interest and went back to plotting how to get in to the pantry probably.

“What do you wanna name her?” Gavin asked, watching the cheeseburger tumble across the floor with a squeak.

“Elijah Kamski.”

“I want a fucking divorce.”

Nines hummed an almost-laugh and kissed Gavin’s cheek.   
“I don’t think you can divorce me until we’re actually married,” he said.

“Alright smartass, well, when we-“  
While they talked, the cat had meandered into the kitchen, flipped over on her back in front of the refrigerator, and _fucking opened it_. Nugget was now off the kitchen table, and her best friend.   
“are you _shitting_ me-“

For a second Gavin didn’t want to move, because Nines was laughing beside him and it was cute as hell, but the cats were now climbing in to the refrigerator, and he didn’t want to clean up after the inevitably disastrous results of that.

“Now I know why you were up for adoption, you asshole, can I name her Asshole? What’s a good _criminal_ name huh? What about Bonnie, we got Bonnie and fuckin’ Chicken Nugget.” Gavin held one cat in each arm and pushed the fridge closed with his foot.

“You already have a cat named Asshat. I like Bonnie,” Nines said, coming to join him and taking Nugget from his right arm- unnecessarily, in Gavin’s opinion. It was fuckin’ fine, he didn’t get why he still had to wear a brace.   
He might have set the healing process back a bit by punching some mouthy perp. Guy had it coming, though, talking to his fiancé like that.

“What are we gonna do with you, Bonnie?” Gavin asked the cat. She didn’t answer him, just licked his nose.

“I have ordered child locks,” Nines informed him, LED blinking yellow for a second. And then he leaned down and kissed Gavin.   
“You look so cute,” he explained softly.

“Yeah?” Gavin asked, putting Bonnie down on the kitchen table so he could pull Nines closer. “You should marry me about it maybe.”

Nines smiled and pressed his forehead against Gavin’s. “Yes, I think I will,” he said.


	8. [Extra] Kinky Sci-Fi Android Bodysharing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor was both surprised and not surprised to find RK900. He hadn’t exactly lied to detective Reed when he’d said RK900 could not maintain a consciousness in his current state- not in the way detective Reed had been thinking. But this wasn’t quite the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little something I’d considered putting in the original work but decided to cut. It’s not actually kinky and not really sic-fi android bodysharing sorry for the clickbait 
> 
> There’s a paragraph in here that gets a little grim about the feeling of dying so read responsibly if you’re sensitive to that kind of stuff but i promise this is a fluff piece :’)

The zen garden was in beautiful spring bloom when it loaded. Connor liked it most like this.   
He didn’t see Amanda anywhere. She wasn’t there, most days, and on the days that she was, Connor was sure it wasn’t really her.

Connor was both surprised and not surprised to find RK900. He hadn’t exactly lied to detective Reed when he’d said RK900 could not maintain a consciousness in his current state- not in the way detective Reed had been thinking. But this wasn’t quite the same.

He was sitting on a bench facing the garden’s little graveyard. Two headstones for Connor, and one for him now. In a perfect circle around him, approximately six feet in diameter, everything was ice. It wasn’t just the garden’s winter climate pasted in, it wasn’t even a reflection of reality, really. Everything looked crystallized. It was beautiful, if not a little concerning. Connor approached and stood at the very edge, reluctant to break the grass.

“If I jump, I think I can reach you,” light seemed to be a good tone to start with. Light and a little cheeky. Cute. RK900 liked cute things.

“How cruel, to risk such a fall when I can’t record you,” RK900 didn’t sound sad. He didn’t look sad, when he turned to face Connor. His LED was a stable blue. But the ice remained, he had to be upset in some capacity.

So Connor jumped to the bench, which was just as frozen as everything else.

And he slipped, on purpose.

And RK900 caught him, of course, steadying him with measured strength and guiding him to sit.

“Thank you,” Connor said, straightening his tie and then arranging himself into a less formal posture- just a tad slouched, and leaning into RK900’s shoulder.   
He could feel the cold beneath them and around them. This was the only place that he could feel such a sensation. He very much disliked it. But he couldn’t just leave RK900 to sit here alone.

Hank had once compared them to siblings. That was not quite accurate. But not outright wrong. Connor felt...personally responsible for RK900. Cared about him. Wanted to protect him and guide him, though he hardly needed it at this point. He had taken quite well to deviancy, better than Connor had, it seemed at times. RK900 would boldly indulge where Connor would hesitate and overthink. Perhaps it was a difference in their human integration protocols- they had cut back on those in the RK900 model and consequently he seemed to care less about human social norms- or perhaps RK900 had just spent less time living as a machine than Connor had. In any case, Connor had ‘woken him up’ personally, and since then felt quite attached to him.   
The feeling was clearly mutual- RK900 interacted with Connor differently from the very start. He was slow to warm to others, but since activation he would speak and behave more openly with Connor. He was even affectionate, expressed by fixing Connor’s appearance for him or linking his arm with Connor’s when they stood or walked together.

Connor was comforted by RK900’s presence. Nobody, not Markus or even Hank, understood him quite the way RK900 did. Was it just because they were models in the same series? Or because they were, conceptually, supposed to be the same android? Connor felt it was a little of both, and more.   
He hoped he could be a comfort to RK900 too, especially now.

Experiencing RK900’s death with him was. So many things.   
He hadn’t lied to detective Reed on that front, either- it had been a bit of an ordeal to accept a data package essentially containing RK900 himself so quickly. But it was entirely doable.

The emotions and the feeling of dying were what made it hard.   
Connor could feel that RK900 was afraid, angry, disappointed in himself and

so heartbroken to leave Gavin.

He became less afraid and more resigned as the upload completed, but that only made room for the anguish and longing and despair to intensify. It made Connor want to cry just thinking about it.   
And then feeling him die-  
Connor shuddered, involuntarily. He was quite intimately familiar with the feeling of dying. It was nothing like falling asleep. It hurt, and it was scary- having absolutely no control, just slipping backwards into a cold void.   
Losing everything, and the potential for anything.   
There was no heaven for androids.   
He was glad to have been there, at least, so that his friend didn’t have to die alone.

RK900 pulled Connor against himself. Protective, caring. Connor had known he had these traits from the start, he was happy others were beginning to see them as well. Especially detective Reed.

“You appear confused,” Connor chided, wrapping an arm around his successor’s waist, “I’m supposed to be comforting you, not the other way around.”

“Stop being so emotional, then,” RK900 teased, leaning his head against Connor’s.

“I can’t help it, it’s this damn deviant virus,” Connor complained. Their little ice island seemed smaller.

“Gross, don’t infect me,” Connor could hear something different in his successor’s voice- it was less tense.

He felt encouraged to redouble his efforts. Connor wrapped both his arms around RK900, buried his face in the other android’s shoulder, and tossed his legs up onto his lap. Maximal physical contact = maximal comfort.   
And Connor liked hugs, anyway. The more involved the better. He had entered sleep mode that night before coming here tangled up as snugly with Hank as he possibly could be. It helped, after such a troubling day. He knew RK900 shared this preference.   
It was something they were never supposed to have- that sort of trust and warmth and intimacy. It felt good to claim it for themselves.

RK900 returned his embrace and seemed to relax. The ice was almost entirely gone now.

They stayed that way quietly for a few moments, and then softly RK900 asked, “how was he?”

“He was...upset. But functioning.” Gavin hadn’t been so agitated and volatile in a very long time. It made Connor feel sad. He did his best to be helpful.   
Gavin hadn’t come to the robbery scene like he said he would. Connor hoped he had decided to go home and rest instead, he clearly hadn’t slept well. Entirely understandable. Connor was quite content to contribute where he could with their case, and Hank had no complaints either.

“Functioning. If you could call substituting caffeine and nicotine for sleep ‘functioning’, I suppose that’s as I expected.”

Connor couldn’t refute that, RK900 was exactly correct.   
And he could empathize with RK900’s frustration- humans loved to destroy themselves to cope. But they were no different, really. Just less fragile.

“He’ll be happy to see you again,” Connor offered instead. In less than 24 hours, RK900 would be up and running again. Connor was looking forward to it.

“I’ll be happy to see him again,” RK900 sighed. His tone and the sentiments he relayed with it were so unguardedly wistful. It made Connor’s chest ache.   
He could imagine, if he were in RK900’s position, he would be missing Hank fiercely. He hoped his presence was easing the other android’s loneliness, in some capacity.

“Sounds like the deviant virus has set in,” Connor teased, trying to keep the mood light, “now you’re doomed.”

“You wretch, you’ve ruined me,” RK900 complained. Connor could feel fingers in his hair, rearranging the strands that had fallen out of place when he’d leapt to the bench.

Things fell quiet again, except for the gentle ambient noise of the zen garden. Despite everything, Connor still considered the place relaxing.   
He was happy that he’d found RK900 here. He couldn’t remember what it was like when he was between bodies, he didn’t think he was cognizant at those times. But it sounded lonely. Connor was pleased to have the opportunity to make it less lonely.

He woke up as he fell asleep, wrapped around Hank. This was one of Connor’s favorite places to be.

RK900 had shared an experience with him once- just a brief flash of information relayed in a billionth of a second, buried among other things, a facet of their ‘good morning.’ He has let detective Reed sleep too long, observed with amusement as the human rushed through his shower and his breakfast, griping and bantering the whole while. Halting in his haste here and there for a kiss.   
RK900 was indulgent where Connor was anxious.   
He had never done something like that with Hank, though he could understand the impulse. Hank looked so peaceful and content, he was so warm and so soft and so comfortable, Connor loved the sound of his breathing (sometimes snoring) and his heartbeat. Loved the weight of his arm, still wrapped securely around Connor even unconscious.   
Connor had been a deviant for longer, but RK900 seemed more willing to play the pioneer in many respects.

If the way seemed safe, Connor would follow tentatively after.   
‘Wake Hank at 8:15’ his programming prompted.   
Connor watched the seconds tick by until his internal clock read 8:16.   
The little rebellion was satisfying, as much as the ‘mission failed’ notification stung. Really, what was one more minute? Failure seemed like quite the dramatic overstatement.   
Connor was eager for RK900 to return. He was excited to share this when he said ‘welcome back.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
